Forestry themed silo art
Wirrabara is a small town (of just over 200 people) about 2 and a half hours north of Adelaide. The town was founded on the edge of a forest and a forestry industry was established in the 1850s, timber milling is still an industry that operates today.
In 2018 the Community of Wirrabara received a grant to paint the disused silos in the town. A Melbourne based Street Art company was chosen to create the artwork and the community chose the artist SMUG (Sam Bates). The selected theme was to be forestry based and that was chosen by the community, the actual image was left to the artist.
I really like this particular artwork, the forestry worker isn't someone from the town but rather was to represent a local forestry worker, although it seems to artist used as his model a local known to him from Tumby Bay where he had previously painted their silo art. The bird, the robin, is a rare bird in the area, and I love the way it seems as though the bird is on a branch poking out from the silo. The artwork took 20 days to complete.
The way the artist has painted the forest it fades into the background and the bird comes out in a 3D effect.
Wirrabara is quite a tidy town with a wide main street running through it. As with most Australian country towns it has an institute building, the war memorial and some shops. Once a month Wirrabara holds a produce market.
The town has a pub, constructed in rural Australian style with wide verandahs to keep the heat off the walls and offer some shade to the locals. And I noticed it has upgraded to the 21st century with solar panels on the roof!
There is a national park near the town with a lookout, which I didn't quite get out to seeing.
This steam engine drove the large saw in the saw mill at Wirrabara, it's now in the local park. The park has a children's playground and a large grassed area along with shaded picnic table areas. And most importantly public toilets!
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