Home to Silverton

For those with limited reading time:

Highlights	Less of a highlight
Pro Hart Art Gallery - Kath	Kyle’s nana, Nana Bev, passing away while I’m so far away and can’t offer much support
Donkeys in the middle of the road -both
Broken Hill – so much to see and t-shirt weather - both
Underground mine tour – very interesting
Street names in Broken Hill – Oxide St, Iodine St, Sulphide St – you get the gist - Kath
Quirkiest coffee shop ever in Peterborough - both

I’m surprised when I count and find it is only our fourth night away from home – I feel like I’ve already seen a lot and I’ve had a lot of free time and a lot of time in the car! Friday, we travelled from Sea Lake to Broken Hill – even after all these trips I forget to add an hour or so to Google’s estimation when we are towing. We arrived about 4pm by which time Bill was happy to sit quietly in the van but as I’d accidentally picked the more expensive park in town so I could walk around the town I felt indebted to walk around town. So, off I went. I noticed some of the beautiful old sandstone buildings before heading back for a quiet evening.

Saturday morning Bill had a little sleep-in whilst I began tidying up the referencing in my manuscript after which we headed out to investigate Broken Hill. We went up to the site of the original BHP mine which rises right over the top of the town. The view was wonderful. The memorial to the miners was stirring – each person’s reason of death was listed beside the date of death – the cause of death ranged from death by falling plumb bob, explosion, lead poisoning and prematurely leaving the cage… very sad. We them wandered the street looking at Pro Hart sculptures (well I did) and taking in the old buildings before finding a bite to eat at a lovely Italian cafe. We then headed to the Living Desert Sculptures (well, Bill drove me and sat in the car while I wandered the sculptures). The sculptures did not impress me as much as the vast open landscape upon which they sat.

After that. Bill dropped me at the Pro Hart Museum. It’s taken 21 years of being together, but I finally accept we are two people with vastly different interests, so we often divide and conquer – I conquered the art gallery while he conquered the sudoku book in the quiet of the caravan. I had chuckled when I asked to stop at Big Lizzie on the way to Broken Hill – Big Lizzie is a huge old tractor in Red Cliff. When we travelled in 2016 Bill wanted to see it and I couldn’t understand why. Since I’ve been researching the history of trucks in Australia, I’ve grown to appreciate these old vehicles in a way I never thought I would. Bill asked, “Do you really need to see it again?” The answer was yes, and so it was our lunch stop.

The only thing I really knew about Pro Hart was his artwork from the carpet ad where the cleaning lady called out ‘Oh, Mr Hart’– turns out there was a series of at least 3 ads promoting the stain free carpet. Anyway, his artwork featuring men with masks really caught my eye and had me thinking about the masks we all wear throughout the day. There is no doubt that as a teacher I spent years wearing a mask. A mask to keep professional life and personal life separate, a mask of confidence when I wasn’t really as confident as I acted and so on. So, it was timely when I sat beside a lady around the campfire and we got chatting about our work and life. She was a quietly spoken lady, ex-teacher and when I said I’d like to build a career in writing she said she was also in the process of doing that. She explained that she had written for the Age but had created a Facebook page in response to a politician’s remarks degrading women. She said the page now allows her to present herself in a way that she wouldn’t in real life – like she gets to wear a mask – because his comment had used swearing, she now uses it on her website. She now has a massive following 200,000 between Facebook, X and Instagram, and is proactive in calling out well-known public figures for misogynistic comments. I love that you just never know who you are going to sit beside around a campfire.

Today we were up and at it early. My alarm rang at six – the plan was to do an hour or so of work before getting up, which I achieved. We then packed up the van and headed to the Historic Daydream Mine for an above ground and underground tour. It was very informative, and the scones were yummy. We then headed to our next museum the Mad Max Museum at Silverton but first we had to dodge the kangaroos, emus, goats, horses and would you believe it, donkeys!! You must be in the outback when donkeys wander the road waiting for visitors to pat them.

After a look through the museum, we popped out to the Mundi Mundi lookout, famous for a truck crash in Mad Max 2. The eagles were soaring, and the vista went on and on and on. We then parked the van at the caravan park in Silverton and read or slept the afternoon away. After a wander through the beautiful, large dry creek bed it was time to meander into town for dinner at the local quirky pub, as seen in a Town Like Alice after which I settled down with a good book.

A few days have passed with a bit of dust swirling around, but more about that next time!