Silo Art Trail

We set out from Horsham to continue the silo art trail through the heart of the grain-growing Wimmera and Mallee regions. Our first stop was Murtoa where the silos are decorated with thirty birds, with one glowing bird representing the one in thirty Australians who suffer from mental illness.

At Rupanyup the artwork features the town’s youth and their great love of team sports. A walk along the main street revealed intricately carved chainsaw sculptures by John Brady.

The next town on our route was Minyip, which was the fictional Cooper’s Crossing in The Flying Doctors TV series, filmed in the 1980s.

At Sheep Hills the silos feature two Aboriginal Elders and two children, and highlights the strong ancestral connection between the generations.

At Warracknabeal we stopped beside the gum tree-lined Yarriambiack Creek for lunch. The creek looks more like a river as it flows through the town, but at the several road crossings it was completely dry.

The silos at Brim were the first to be painted and feature four farmers who bear expressions which exemplify the strength and resilience of the local farming community.

On a short stop at the little town of Beulah we walked the deserted main street and viewed its murals and delapidated shops. The Eric Bana movie, The Dry, was filmed in Beulah in 2019.

The last silo site for the day was Rosebery where the artwork captures the grit, tenacity and character of the region’s young female farmers, and the mutual love and trust between man and horse.

We camped for the night beside Lake Lascelles at Hopetoun. Next morning we left the caravan there and drove to Albacutya where the silos feature the artist’s memories of growing up in the country; exploring the bush and looking for yabbies under rocks in the creek.

The information board at Albacutya promised more art in Rainbow, just 9km away, but we were disappointed to find it not yet painted. However, on a walk up the main street we met Mick, a retired panel beater and farmer, who has bought a shop (at the corner of Federal and King Streets, if you ever find yourself in the area) and converted it to a workshop/showroom, living quarters and community performance space. He thinks right outside the box to repurpose junk into artefacts, including making guitars from Harley bike parts and car dashboards.

After returning to Hopetoun we hitched up the van and proceeded to Patchewollock. The silo there features a local sheep and grain farmer who exemplifies the no-nonsense, hardworking spirit of the region. His expression, sun-bleached hair and squinting gaze tell of the harshness of life in the Wimmera Mallee. The town also boasts two giant mallee fowl sculpted from corrugated iron.

From Patchewollock the road leads to Walpeup and its very emotive piece of silo art featuring a young soldier and his horse. At the age of 16 he changed his name and lied about his age to sign up for the Light Horse regiment. He was killed just months later in the Battle of Beersheba. We passed through Walpeup last year and therefore include the photo as part of the trail.

At Lascelles, our overnight stop, the silos feature a local couple whose family has farmed in the area for four generations. They are portrayed as wise and knowing, nurturing the town’s future with their vast farming experience and longstanding connection to the district.

Day three of the trail took us to Sea Lake, where the mural spread over five silos features a young girl on a swing, looking out over a lake which reflects the colours of dawn and dusk.

The next stop was Nullawil and a silo featuring a farmer and his faithful Kelpie, highlighting the importance of working dogs to the farming community. Also at Nullawil is Trickbots Metal Art where Dan and Mazz have filled their garden with his imaginative metal robots and other artwork created from old machinery, tools and cutlery.

We arrived in St Arnaud feeling like cocktails – shaken, not stirred – after a very bumpy journey from Nullawil. Most of the roads in this area are narrow and bumpy with broken edges, and really leave a lot to be desired. This is the final town on the silo art trail and the mural illustrates St Arnaud’s gold mining history.

St Arnaud is a delightful town which was established in the gold rush era of the 1850s, and its architecture reflects the wealth that came out of the ground, including the grand Town Hall and other public buildings, hotels and churches.

Pioneer Park was created on the site of the abandoned Lord Nelson Mine by the Country Women’s Association, with the gardens by famous landscape designer Edna Walling. There are a dozen mine shafts beneath the town, the deepest being the Lord Nelson at 783m.