HAVE you ever driven very fast through a small, remote town? You may think it looks lonely and barren, but to people who live there, it’s home.

Photographer Martin Mischkulnig and writer Tim Winton and have captured this phenomenon in a beautiful photographic exhibition of 44 large-format colour images, “Smalltown”, with an accompanying book, unveiled Friday at the National Archives.

Mischkulnig asked Winton to write an introductory essay challenging sentimental myths of Australian rural life and their rare collaboration has been showcased in a touring exhibition organised by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.

You’ll see a remote railway station with just a couple of chairs there, just in case somebody should come by. You’ll see a pile of concrete dice on the Barrier Highway in NSW, probably a work of art. And talking of works of art, you go inside several outback pubs sporting fantastical decorations on the walls, in one case an odd version of Sidney Nolan’s “Ned Kelly”.

Then there are the playgrounds. There’s an abandoned basketball court in WA’s Warralong community, unused play equipment in Paraburdoo, WA, and the debris from what was probably a lively football match in Roxby Downs, SA. All hint at the life that must have filled them in the past or maybe into the present.

There are very few people in this exhibition, as the focus is on the towns themselves, but the inhabitants depicted look very comfortable and happy with their surroundings.

Mischkulnig himself grew up in roadside motels run by his parents, so is in a good position to comment photographically on an Australia usually missed in the guide books. He ranges widely around Australia and at this time of year his freezing town scapes from Tasmania may be refreshing.

While he clearly aimed to show the tacky side of Australia, a curious, quirky kind of beauty emerges and “Smalltown”  will bring a tear to the eye in its depictions of what is real.

“Smalltown”, at the National Archives of Australia, Queen Victoria Terrace Parkes, 9am – 5pm daily (except Christmas Day) until February 26. Free entry.

“Exploring Smalltown”, a talk by the curator, Inara Walden, 2pm, December 10.

In “Pixeltown”, a school holiday program running 10am–11.30am, Monday to Friday, January 9–13 and 16–20, children aged 6 to 12 can tour the exhibition then create a “Pixeltown” using paper pixels and write their own small-town stories to go with their artwork. Bookings essential: (02) 6212 3956 or email events@naa.gov.au