Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome — Bartertown Filmed at Coober Pedy (1985)

George Miller and George Ogilvie chose Coober Pedy and the surrounding opal fields of South Australia for the exteriors of Bartertown in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985), starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner. The scarred, post-apocalyptic landscape of the opal mining terrain — riddled with excavation holes and pale dirt mounds built up over a century of digging — required no additional set dressing to suggest a devastated future Earth. The production also used the wider outback around Coober Pedy for desert chase sequences. The film was released in July 1985 and grossed over $36 million worldwide. Coober Pedy subsequently appeared in Pitch Black (2000) and Red Planet (2000), cementing its reputation as the go-to location for post-apocalyptic cinematography.