Donkeys, camels and the 'Emu Man' call this 'ghost town' home

Silverton's quirky characters brace for thousands of Mundi Mundi Bash tourists In short: Thousands of tourists will pass through Silverton to reach the 2026 Mundi Mundi Bash. Silverton itself is a tourist hotspot both during and outside the outback festival. What's next? The quirky characters of Silverton are looking forward to the surge in tourism, which the town runs on. On the long winding road out to one of the country's largest outback music festivals, a convoy of caravans containing thousands of people will pass through what may appear to be a virtual ghost town. But what many may not realise is that the village of Silverton, roughly 25 kilometres north of Broken Hill, is in itself a tourist hotspot, complete with its own line-up of quirky characters. From the self-professed "mayor, sheriff and town drunk" all rolled into one, to the curator of a museum dedicated to Mad Max 2, to a former police officer turned camel farm owner, all are ready to welcome visitors with open arms. 'Mayor', 'town drunk' and 'Emu Man' Artist John Dynon goes by many names and self-appointed titles: "Mayor", "sheriff" and "town drunk". He's also affectionately known as the "Emu Man" due to the number of them that feature in his artwork. Mr Dynon's Silverton gallery sits opposite the pub, and has a corrugated iron facade covered in brightly coloured paint. In the front yard, an old Volkswagen Beetle and countless bicycles are littered about, all of them similarly painted. Inside, Mr Dynon stands by a table and paints outback landscapes and emus with seemingly human personalities: drinking beer, working in the mines, making camp fires — some are even kitted out in leather jumpsuits. For the past 40 years, Mr Dynon has found inspiration for his paintings in Silverton and the surrounding outback. Although he now lives in Broken Hill, he spends most of his time at his gallery in Silverton. "I like the old town because it's a ghost town, and I love the surrounding area,"he said. "I love all the bush, the beautiful skies, the sunsets, the animals, everything." The most lucrative week in the gallery's year is the Mundi Mundi Bash week, which sees Mr Dynon set up a pop-up shop at the festival. While the artist says he enjoys the Bash, he admits disappointment in his favourite genre of music never making an appearance. "There's no techno … they don't bring the techno people out," he said. "But I still love all the music … it's good for the town, it's good for everybody." The makings of a Mad Max museum Only a short walk up the road from Mr Dynon's gallery is a metal shed painted with the colourful characters of Mad Max 2, which was filmed in and around Silverton in 1981. Inside, visitors are greeted by a treasure trove of costumes, vehicles, props and memorabilia from the movie, along with the museum's cheerful owner, Adrian Bennett. Mr Bennett, a die-hard fan of the movie, moved from the United Kingdom to Silverton with his wife Linda in 2009 and said he has not looked back. "Sometimes dreams can come true; I just followed a passion, and this [museum] is the result of it," Mr Bennett said. "It really has been a wonderful 16 years since we opened and seeing the place evolve … we just add where we can as we come across things." Mr Bennett himself is a walking encyclopedia on Mad Max, having met and become friends with people involved with it over the years, and he is more than happy to share that knowledge. While they typically enjoy a steady stream of visitors, with the Mundi Mundi Bash again on the horizon, Mr Bennett and his team are excited to see Silverton come alive. "It really helps us out, especially after the slow start we had to the tourist season this year,"Mr Bennett said. "You meet some wonderful people so it's a great thing to look forward to." An accidental cameleer While Silverton has a human population of around 27 people, its animal locals are also an integral part of the community. It's not uncommon to see the town's resident free-range donkeys wandering the streets, but many more can be found on the village's outskirts at the Silverton Camel Farm. Sheep, goats, donkeys, emu, deer, alpacas, pigs, peacocks, geese, guinea fowl and, of course, camels, are just some of the residents living at Petah Devine's farm. Having always been an animal lover, the former police officer was on the hunt for a block of land where she could keep a few animals back in 2017 when, through a dare, she took on camels. "My workmates dared [me] because I was living in the outback, [so they said] … I should have pet camels," she said. "I got my first two within a month of buying the farm." Within a few short years, those camels became an integral part of her business, Silverton Outback Camel Farm. During Bash week, Ms Devine has punters staying at the farm itself and operates camel tours and a petting zoo at the festival grounds. But it's not just her business that benefits, with all of Silverton seeing an influx of tourism traffic during Bash week. While the community is used to visitors, Ms Devine said tourism numbers have boomed this time of year since the first festival four years ago. "It's certainly putting us on the map … we're about to see carloads, caravans, everything heading this way," she said. Hospitality businesses welcome customer boost Also eager to welcome the thousands of people coming for the Bash are part-time bakers, part-time outback station owners Steve and Naomi Schmidt. Over the course of the festival, the couple typically bake around 2,000 pies. While Mr Schmidt has lived in Silverton almost all his life, Ms Schmidt has lived there for the past 40 years. "I love meeting new people, and the people we employ have come from all over the world," Ms Schmidt said. "It's a very diversified group of people that operate here … I don't think you'd find that mix anywhere else in the world." Meanwhile, relatively new publicans Liz Murphy and Norm Matau are nervous but excited for their first Mundi Mundi Bash. The couple took over the lease of the Silverton Hotel in March after chucking in their lives in the city. "We're up for the challenge, and we've got some fabulous staff here that have done Mundi Mundi before," Ms Murphy said. "We've got a massive set up, I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all goes." Accidental tourists excited to return While all locals agree tourism is Silverton's biggest economic driver, and that the Mundi Mundi Bash is its biggest source of that, the village does still get regular visitors. Peter Jones from Western Australia recently passed through town for the first time by total chance after his plan to travel the Darling River Run was diverted due to wet weather. "It reminded me of an old western town … there's just so much to see and do if you investigate a little bit," Mr Jones said. "You can tell [the atmosphere] is building, the influx of thousands of people for Mundi Mundi, and we're very jealous because we hadn't planned to be here. "We're so glad we got diverted … we'll definitely be back because even around some of the surrounding areas of this place, there's so much to investigate."