Outback NSW
Visit the Living Desert sculpture park about 10 km from Broken Hill. The dramatic landscape around Silverton, 25 km northwest of Broken Hill, has attracted many filmmakers. Enjoy a cold beer in the iconic Silverton Hotel, circa 1880, and visit the Mundi Mundi Plains.
White Cliffs is an opal-mining town where residents mainly live underground to escape the summer heat. Stay at White Cliffs Underground Motel. Fossick for opals at Lightning Ridge, which has the Australian Opal Centre, a museum. The mining town also has plenty of shops selling opals.
About the spectacular outback
The vast terrain of outback NSW features in films such as the post-apocalyptic Mad Max 2 movie. Yet the boundless ochre and red landscape has its own beauty – you’ll even find wetlands teeming with wildlife.
Broken Hill, a remote mining town, is a good place to begin exploring the outback. Global resources group BHP Billiton started mining there as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company in 1885, two years after massive reserves of silver and lead were found.
Nicknamed the Silver City, Broken Hill is 13 hours by train from Sydney. Rex Regional Express services the town’s airport from Sydney. Places to stay in the vast outback range from hotels and an underground motel at White Cliffs, to farm stays on properties such as Trilby and Eldee stations and camping and caravan parks.
Things to do in Broken Hill include joining a heritage trail of the town’s mining history. Tour operators such as Tri State Safaris and Corner Country Adventure depart Broken Hill for major attractions in the region. See Aboriginal rock art, dating back thousands of years, in Mutawintji National Park. Or you can tour this fascinating landscape with Aboriginal guides on Mutawintji Eco Tours.
Film fans will be fascinated by Silverton; the tiny township with its famous pub and the surrounding areas have featured in many popular movies, including Mad Max 2, Mission Impossible 2, Razorback and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Visit World Heritage-listed Mungo National Park in remote southwest NSW, a location rich in Aboriginal history, and home to Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, whose remains date back tens of thousands of years. See the Walls of China and other dramatic Mungo landmarks with Tri State Safaris.