Silverton lies in far western New South Wales, about 25 kilometres north-west of Broken Hill, on Wilyakali Country. Silver mining rapidly made it a regional centre in the 1880s, and the railway that opened in 1888 carried ore towards South Australia. But the larger ore body at nearby Broken Hill and the decline of Silverton's own mines soon drew people away. Businesses and public institutions contracted with them. A small resident community remains, so calling the place a ghost town can hide the fact that it still functions as a home.
Silverton's later use grew directly from the space left by that contraction. Broad dirt streets, nineteenth-century buildings, old railway structures and horizons largely unobstructed by modern towers let a camera establish an immense outback scale within a compact area. The National Film and Sound Archive records that the 1971 film Wake in Fright used the old Silverton railway station as a location. Film, television and advertising productions have continued to use the wider region. The local council describes Broken Hill as the production engine room and Silverton as the ready-made set.
Screen production did not simply replace mining. A crew staying for several weeks is not the same as the housing, water, roads and services required for year-round life. Silverton matters because the apparent emptiness left after an industry departed is not a history-free backdrop. Productions borrow buildings and transport remains created by mining, as well as the light and landforms of Wilyakali Country. A durable local economy must care for residents, heritage and Country, rather than merely consuming the visual effect of remoteness.
https://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/Services/Filming-in-Broken-Hill/Silverton
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/stories/articles/broken-hill-time-capsule
https://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/Community/About-the-city/Its-out-there/Destination-story
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