Detour #38: Silo Art Trail, Victoria, Australia
Street art on a massive scale. That’s the premise of Australia’s network of extraordinary Silo Art Trails.
What began as a one-off project to draw attention to the demise of farming communities in Western Australia has spread to become a nationwide gallery of 35 installations spanning thousands of miles and bringing much-need tourist dollars to rural Australia. You can check out the full scale of it at Australian Silo Art Trail, but for now we’ll focus on Victoria.
There are two trails in the state: one in the Wimmera-Wallee region and the other in the North East where the powerful images featured here come from.
The journey begins in Tungamah – about 180 miles from Melbourne – where you’ll see your first silos depicting dancing Brolgas and other native birds painted by Sobrane Silcock. Moving on to St James you’ll find Tim Botwell’s take on the history of wheat farming (below left) and Sir George James Coles and family, who founded the Coles supermarket chain.
Next stop is Devenish and Cam Scale’s epic Anzac Day tribute (below right). And if that’s not a good enough reason to stay for a while, the Devonshire Teas at the Devenish pub may tempt you. Goorambat’s magnificent Clydesdale horses (above) were painted by Jimmy DVate. And all this within 50 miles of the start.
You can stick to the Silo Art exclusively and head the remaining 50 miles to Rochester for another Jimmy DVate masterpiece featuring the azure kingfisher and the squirrel glider, or take in all manner of local murals in churches and on water towers, which will keep you busy for a day or two.
We’ll be honest, what you see in between the art isn’t quite so interesting – just miles and miles of straight road and gum trees, which only makes the silos all the more impressive as they loom into view. Blots on the landscape becoming beautiful reasons to visit the region.
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Trevor Kay / Unsplash
ROADBOOK
Class: Street art
Name: Silo Art Trail
Route: Tungamah to Rochester
Country: Australia
Distance: 100 miles