Take at look at the CamperMate website to see my latest story on some impressive silo art in Australia. These giant towers have become art canvases and their popularity is spreading all around the country. This has been happening for a few years now and it’s becoming easier to include a visit to see many of them as you travel around the country.  These brilliant pieces are not only on grain silos though, you can also find painted water towers and other structures in rural areas and having them is doing a great service in bringing incredible art to the masses and travellers to rural areas that otherwise might have been bypassed.

Every state and territory in Australia now has some of these amazing works and although it will take a long time for most people to get around and see all of them, you can tick quite a few off your list if you plan a few detours to find them. To get you started I’ve written a road trip itinerary to follow when you travel between Adelaide and Melbourne which you can read in full on the CamperMate website.

Here are some of the outstanding works to find on the journey and the artists responsible:

David Lee Pereira

Located in a back street of the town of Kaniva in Victoria, you get a tantalising glimpse of this silo art as you drive into town, and it entices you to get off the highway to find it. This stunning colourful mural depicts a bird and species of orchids found locally. The artwork pays tribute to the nearby Little Desert National Park and features an Australian Hobby bird (a small falcon) and sun orchids.

The artist is Melbourne based and he was assisted by a fellow artist, Jason Parker and they used an image by local photographer Cindy McDonald for reference.

Geoffrey Carran

Taking a detour off the main highway and heading to the town of Goroke will take you to one of the latest silo art projects. These feature more local nature inspired art including a kookaburra, galah and magpie. These birds are all significant to the town, especially the magpie which Goroke means in the local Wotjobaluk indigenous language.

The background of the paintings show the typical rural landscape of the area but there are a few secrets hidden within the painting too.  We were extremely lucky, in the right place at the right time when we were gazing in admiration at the work, only to have a local farmer pull over and chat to us. He was obviously really pleased and proud of the work and what it would do for the town’s popularity, stating that they were already seeing an increase in visitors and the landscaping of the area around the silos wasn’t complete yet.

This friendly chap by the name of Bryce Hausler gave us some detailed information on the painting that we would have otherwise missed including, to look for the reflections in the bird’s eyes of the landscape they are looking towards, amazing! He also had us searching for a mob of kangaroos in the background landscape and a family of emus too, but I won’t spoil the fun for those who plan to visit, you’ll have to find them for yourselves.

He even recommended we watch a short YouTube video, made by Bryan Hynes which shows the whole process involved in the silo art project and the local’s reactions, and Bryce is in it too. Thank you so much, we really enjoyed meeting you and finding out more about the silo art.

Kyle Torney

There are a number of murals to find in St Arnaud by this artist who lives in the town. His images are incredibly realistic and a little haunting in the depth of the expressions in the faces in his monochromatic, Renaissance inspired paintings.

His aim is to produce artworks which tell a story and he certainly seems to have nailed it with these images around town, they urge you to find out the story behind the people depicted. The images on the silos he has painted, were chosen by public vote and depict the goldmining history of the town.  The piece is entitled ‘Hope’ and is the biggest artwork he has done to date.

Julia Volchkova

This Russian mural artist’s silos can be found in Rupanyup and they feature the portraits of a couple of young local residents. These monochromatic realist style paintings honour the role that sport plays in rural Australian communities and shows this pair of fresh faced young people in their sportswear, of netball uniform and Aussie Rules Football uniform. The love of team sports is a very important to rural communities and brings locals together in a social way in towns that are often quite isolated.

These are just a fraction of the silo art to be found in the Wimmera area alone, of Victoria.

Enjoy the journey of discovery

Glenys