As well as silo art in Australia, you can also find water tower art in rural areas, and there are some fine examples on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.

The story behind the Southern Yorke Peninsula Water Tower Mural trail came out of devastation, when in 2019 a bushfire near the town of Yorketown caused wide spread destruction.  The fire which began near the town’s water tower on a catastrophic fire danger day, eventuated in 11 properties damaged, over 5000 hectares of land burnt and hundreds of animals killed or injured. By the time the fire was extinguished 33 people had also been treated for minor injuries.

In the aftermath of the fire, the Country Fire Service volunteered to wash down the Yorketown water tower and others in the region at Port Vincent, Stansbury, and Edithburgh, and painting of the water towers began soon afterwards, in part due to some Government funding ~ the Regional Tourism Bushfire Recovery grant.

Today these town’s water towers make up part of an art trail on Yorke Peninsula, with scenes specific to each town depicted in their artwork. The towers are all 20 to 25 metres tall and each took between two weeks to a month to complete the artworks.

Port Vincent

In May 2021 this water tower was completed by artists Camilo Delgado (Refuz) and Jasmine Crisp from a design by Joel Van Moore (Vans the Omega) and Elizabeth Close. It features the local history of fishing, boating and beach fun, including scenes of the past to the present, and traditional indigenous custodians, the Nharangga people.

The design includes an indigenous boy spear fishing in the bay, a farmer’s boy fishing with his dog as well as yachts, pine trees, barley crops and tidal sands.

The tower is on property owned by the SA Water Corporation so you can’t get too close to look at the design, except on Saturdays and Sundays at 10.30am, and Wednesdays during school holidays, when volunteer guides provide access.

Stansbury

This water tower was painted by Mike Makatron and Conrad Bizjak and was completed in May 2021. It features the natural landscapes, wildlife and sealife in and around Stansbury, including a blue swimmer crab, pelican, bottlenose dolphins, the jetty and coastline, ribbon seaweed and oysters.

There is a walking path that leads around most of the perimeter of the land the water tower sits on, so you can get views around the tower.  

Yorketown

A beautifully colourful water tower transformation painted by Jasmine Crisp in 2020. The artwork features farming history, crops of wheat and canola, historic buildings and a Royal Flying Doctor Service airplane. It also has bottlebrush and a pink lake that the area is well known for.

Edithburgh

The Edithburgh water tower is stunning with underwater scenes that can be witnessed at the local jetty. The painting was completed in 2021 by Mike Makatron, Conrad Bizjak and Dylan Butler and features images of a striped pyjama squid, leafy sea dragon and cuttlefish as well as a local landmark the Troubridge Lighthouse and white bellied sea eagle and eastern curlew.

When you visit Yorke Peninsula make sure to pick up a brochure on the water tower mural trail from any of the visitor information centres, and take a self-guided driving tour to appreciate them all. The distance from Port Vincent to Stansbury is 17 kilometres, Stansbury to Edithburgh 24 kilometres and Edithburgh to Yorketown 15 kilometres.

From Yorketown you can also take the Salt Lake trail which is another driving tour to see a series of salt lakes, which depending on the time of year, will appear various shades of pink.

There are a few different self-drive salt lake tours to take which vary in distance and also include historic buildings and sites. The full salt lake drive is around 48 kilometres in total and it’s recommended to allow 60 to 90 minutes to complete the drive on the unsealed roads. The salt lake trail brochure is another one to pick up at the tourist information centres and it will give you a map as well as details of what you’ll see along the way.

Enjoy the drive,

Glenys