I grew up in a small country town: It was rural in nature being surrounded by farming land used by primary producers for the purpose of crop production primarily. There was a huge international agricultural college only a few kilometres away and most businesses revolved around farming and in support of farmers and their families.
It was a great place to grow up, sleepy at times, but a place where kids could be kids, get out into the outdoors and find trouble. I loved it.
When growing up of the most common sights rising from the landscape were grain silos. These monolithic concrete structures held the grains that would eventually be trucked to the domestic market and shipped internationally; They were everywhere.
If you've done any amount of road-tripping around Australia you'll be familiar with them, usually big grey-coloured cylinders that tower into the sky...But that was then...These days...grey doesn't quite describe them very well.
On the weekend I headed north for a two-day shooting event I was competing in some 300 kilometres from home. The fastest way there was due north on Highway One but, me being me, I decided to take a more scenic route with the intention of seeing a little more scenery, and to visit some pained grain silos. It was a longer trip, just over four hours, but worth it.
I'm not sure when the craze started, or even if it is a craze, although it seems to be the trend for small towns to have their silos and water towers covered in artwork. It's a damn-sight better than the scrawls of graffiti that used to cover them, so I kind of get it.
Basically, the town raises the funds to have the work done, engages an artist and the end result is something quite wondrous! A glance at the silo's in this post should punctuate that point.
This silo art is in a place called Wirrabara in the Southern Flinders Ranges north of the State capital of Adelaide, South Australia. If you were driving through the township you'd miss them though as they are not located on the main thoroughfare and, to be honest, are not sign-posted very well at all. Luckily I knew they were there.
These silos were painted by a chap called Sam Bates and were completed in 2018. The fellow depicted on the silo is a man called Dion Lebrun.
The forestry industry is big in these parts and has always been a key industry together with crops and stock farming. As part of the Flinders Ranges the region also has a lot of fauna and flora to offer, some quite unique to these parts, and these elements have all been depicted on the silos. It's best to see them in real life, but my photos should give you an idea.
This image shows the car park area and also gives some perspective on the sheer size of the silos.
I'm a bit disappointed that the weather wasn't great when I was there; It was actually raining pretty well which the locals will be happy with I guess. I was hoping to have beautiful blue skies which would have framed my images better but we don't always get what we want huh?
I drove this way specifically to see these silos and am glad I did...The lack of good weather gives me an excuse to have to come back, although there's many other silo art locations around the countryside to discover.
I came across this website the other day which shows silo art from around the country...There's some pretty spectacular photos to discover so take a look if you like. Here's a direct link to the gallery to make it easier. Trust me, it's worth a look.
I said to Faith last week that it would be cool to get around the country and see more silo and water tank art. We're planning to take a year off work to travel around the country in our four wheel drive at some point in the not too distant future so I think we'll get to see a lot of it.
Many small Australian rural towns are struggling for many reasons and their populations are declining; I guess it's not cool to work the land these days, youngsters want the fast-paced city life, the glitz and glamour, and so many farms are being sold out to foreign ownership; A fact I really hate. That's what makes endeavour's like the silo art so important.
It's great to see a little town-spirt exists still and that the small communities take the time and effort to raise the funds, which can't be easy, to get these artworks done. It's shows pride in their town and of course, brings tourism as well as people want to drive out and see the artwork like I did and spend money locally when there.
Anyway, that's about it for now. I hope you liked this silo artwork. My apologies for the photos not being amazing, but they tell the story and I suppose that's good enough.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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