Ever been driving and seen a piece of silo art that made you stop?
The Australian Silo Art Trail is a living outdoor gallery that stretches out over 8,500 km beginning in Northam, Western Australia and ending in the tiny rural town of Three Moon, in rural south east Queensland.
A brief history of the Australian Silo Art Trail
Beginning as recently as March 2015 when the Northam CBH Group grain silos were painted by two international artists, Phlegm from the UK and Hense from the United States, the trail has now grown to over 50 large scale murals that light up the skyline of the regional towns they live in.
Recognising the value it added to local tourism, non-profit creative consultancy FORM decided to create the PUBLIC Silo Trail in Western Australia. Since then, the concept has taken off in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and especially Victoria, with local and international artists invited to take part.
Dotted across the country, these gigantic murals depict scenes that reflect the land around them and the people who live there, with road-trippers following the trail or happening upon these brightly coloured canvases.
The best silo art in Western Australia
The state where it all began, the PUBLIC Silo Art Trail was the first to light up regional Australia, starting with what remains one of the more colourful murals at Northam, 100 kilometres east of Perth.
Now inclusive of five further installations in the regional towns of Ravensthorpe, Meredin, Albany, Newdegate and Pingrup, the trail is said to have been completed in 2018, linking these rural and coastal towns across Western Australia’s southern region.
Northam, CBH Group Grain Silos
Northam-Toodyay Road
Date completed: March 2015
Artists: Phlegm (UK) & Hence (USA)
The Northam CBH Group silos is still a fully operational site and one of the busiest in Western Australia. Work continued on as normal during the 16-day, 740-litre paint with trucks coming and going while each artist painted four of the massive 16 grain holding complex.
Working across all four silos as one, HENSE's design bleeds into the next to produce his signature abstract patterns in explosive blocks of fluoro colour.
Phlegm’s work depicts his own signature whimsical characters in fantastical transportation devices down each silo. Northam has a rich history in ballooning so he may have drawn his inspiration for his Leonardo Da Vinci style devices from this.
Newdegate Silo
Manley Street
Date completed: June 2018
Artists: Brenton See (AUS)
Credit: Bewley Shaylor
Featuring native Western Australia wildlife, the public silos in Newdegate were painted by well-known Perth artist Brendon See in June 2018. They feature the Western Bearded Lizard, Mallee Fowl, Thigh Spotted Tree Frog, and Red-tailed Phascogale.
Credit: Bewley Shaylor
About an hour’s drive to the west sits Lake Grace, one of Australia’s largest salt lakes. Or an hour’s drive southwest brings you to Pingrup.
Other silo art to look out for in WA include installations in Pingrup, Merredin, Ravensthorpe and Albany.
The best silo art in Queensland
There are currently three painted silos in Queensland, all in the rural area of south east Queensland. The first was completed in 2017 and can be found in Thallon, and the most recent at Three Moon, in July 2020.
Thallon GrainCorp Silo ‘The Watering Hole’
Noondoo-Thallon Road
Date completed: June 2017
Artists: Joel Fergie and Travis Vinson (AUS)
Credit: Annette Green
Titled ‘The Watering Hole,’ this mural portrays the Thallon district and its surrounding area to perfection.
It features the Moonie River, an amazing Thallon sunset and the area’s agricultural base. It also recognises members of Thallon’s indigenous community by the inclusion of a scarred tree.
The mural project was a co-initiative between GrainCorp, the Thallon Progress Association and artists Joel Fergie and Travis Vinson. It was also made possible by a Regional Arts Development Fund grant.
Three Moon
Cnr Burnett Highway & Three Moon Road
Date completed: July 2020
Artists: Joel Fergie and Travis Vinson (AUS)
This silo depicts Joel Fergie's and Travis Vinson's version of the legend of the Three Moon. They are the 37th set of silos to Join the Australian Silo Art Trail and were completed in July 2020.
Three Moon Creek was named according to one version of a legend involving a swagman, Aboriginal stockman or a Chinese station cook, who was boiling his billy on the banks of the creek and noticed three moons - one in the sky, one reflected in the creek and one in his billy.
Initially proposed to be a five year project, the mural was combined into a mighty six-month effort thanks to generous funding and support from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) and the North Burnett Regional Council under the Australian Government’s Community Drought Programme extension.
Other Queensland murals are ‘Brightsiders’ in Yelarbon, 35 minutes from Goondiwindi near the NSW border, and the Wandoan silo light show which breaks from tradition by presenting a nightly projection on the silo behind the truck stop on Zupps Road.
The best silo art in South Australia
South Australia’s first silo in Coonalpyn was painted in March 2017 by well-known Australian mural artist Guido van Helten.
Since then, the number of murals in SA has grown to 16, with the latest in Copeville - on the long-disbanded Waikerie railway line - completed in July 2022 and the 55th member of the Australian Silo Art Trail in total. Others are dotted around the Riverland, Eyre Peninsula and various outback regions.
Coonalpyn
23-25 Poyntz Terrace
Date completed: March 2017
Artists: Guido van Helten (AUS)
Credit: Annette Green
The award-winning 'Creating Coonalpyn' initiative was a joint project of the Coorong District Council with key partners Country Arts SA and Viterra.
The initiative included painting Viterra's 30 metre high and still operational grain silos and other works of art in the township of Coonalpyn close to SA’s Coorong.
The murals depict a magnificent tribute to five Coonalpyn Primary School children, whose images will now live on in the history of the town forever. The lucky five were six-year-olds Kiarah Leske and Blake Thompson, five-year-olds Macey Jacobs and Reef Gregor and nine-year-old Ciara Johnson.
Using photographs as reference, the artist first drew a giant grid onto the face of the five silos and then sprayed paint to create the designs. The mural took 200 paint cans to create.
‘Jeti Jumping’
Tumby Bay
275 Bratten Road
Date completed: March 2017
Artists: Martin Ron (ARG)
Credit: Annette Green
Mr Ron started researching the jetty jumping and came across an image that would form the basis of the silo mural. The image was taken by a local photographer Robert Lang, in January 2014, of local boys Eli Carmody and Morris Webb jumping off the Tumby Bay jetty on a very hot summer’s afternoon.
Kimba
Viterra Silos, Railway Terrace
Date completed: September 2017
Artists: Cam Scale (AUS)
Credit: Annette Green
Kimba is a pioneering town established in 1915 at the halfway point of Australia at the top of the Eyre Peninsula. It's surrounded by endless wheat farms which formed the inspiration for this mural.
Credit: Annette Green
Painted by artist Cam Scale in September 2017, this mural stretches over five and a half silos and stands over 60m wide and 25m high depicting a young girl standing in a wheat field.
The subject is overlooking a magnificent purple sunset viewed through endless wheat fields that blend into the real thing behind the silos. It took 26 days and 200 litres of paint to complete.
The best silo art in Victoria
Along with South Australia at 16, Victoria has become the epicentre of Australia’s silo art trail with a total of 23 locations mostly concentrated in the Wimmera-Mallee and North East regions of Victoria.
The GrainCorp silos in Brim were the first to be completed in January 2016 by Guido van Helten, and received worldwide media attention and an influx of visitors to the region. Horsham, close to Victoria’s Grampians, is the most recent addition, and 54th addition in total completed by Sam Bates in May 2022.
Brim
Henty Highway
Date completed: January 2016
Artists: Guido van Helten (AUS)
Credit: Annette Green
In January 2016, nine months after the completion of the Northam Silos in Western Australia, Brim in the Wimmera-Mallee region of Victoria was painted by world renowned Australian artist Guido Van Helten.
Rendered across four 1939-built GrainCorp silos, van Helten’s subjects bear expressions that exemplify the strength and resilience of the local farming community.
While the faces on the mural are anonymous, they are said to portray a multi-generational quartet of farmers both male and female who show the strength and resilience that is required to be a country Victorian farmer.
Yangga Dyata ‘Walking on Country’
Horsham
Hazel Street & Wawunna Road
Date completed: May 2022
Artists: Sam Bates aka Smug (AUS)
The Yangga Dyata stands proud as a celebration of the significant story of Yanggendyinanyuk, a Wotjobaluk warrior's story of leadership, resilience and legacy.
Yanggendyinanyuk, meaning 'His Walking Feet' in the language of the Wergaia People was born in 1834 in Wotjobaluk Country, in the Wimmera Region of North Western Victoria. He lived a life marked by extraordinary achievements in leadership and sportsmanship. A Gamaty, meaning 'Black Cockatoo' was his totem.
Rochester
18 Ramsay Street
Date completed: July 2018
Artist: Jimmy D’Vate (AUS)
Jimmy D'Vate is one of Australia's most well known mural artists, and was chosen to paint the GrainCorp Silos at Rochester. Deciding to feature endemically threatened local species, in this case he chose the Azure KingFisher and the Squirrel Glider.
The GrainCorp Silos at Rochester were painted in July 2018 and were the 22nd silos to be included in the Australian Silo Art Trail.
In December 2021 Jimmy was again chosen to bring another GrainCorp silo to life by completing this third instalment featuring the Duck-billed platypus.
The best silo art in New South Wales
Home to eight large-scale murals dotted across the countryside, three of the NSW silos were painted by Melbourne-based Mongolian artist Heesco Khosnaran.
Weethalle was the first silo to be painted in New South Wales in July 2017 and became the 9th silo to be included in the Australian Silo Art Trail. Murrumburrah Mills was completed February 2021 and is the 46th silo to be included in the ASAT.
Barraba
Old Manilla Road
Date completed: April 2019
Artist: Fintan Magee (AUS)
Credit: Annette Green
The Barraba Silos are privately owned by Simon and Amanda Koopman and are located at the southern entrance to town on Manilla Road.
25 artists were approached from across Australia to seek their interest in painting the Barraba Silos. From those 25, 14 proposals were received. The Barraba Silo Art Committee, including the owners of the silos (Simon and Amanda Koopman), chose Fintan Magee as the winning artist.
To refine the theme for this mural, Fintan visited Barraba in early 2019 to inspect the site and to meet with the local community.
The mural depicts a local water diviner searching for groundwater, using a y-shaped twig or rod or two L-shaped ones. Diviners study the landscape of a farm and walk over areas where they suspect the water may be located.
Murrumbah Mill
Neill Street, Harden
Date completed: February 2021
Artist: Heesco Khosnaran (MON)
The Murrumburrah Mills project was delayed in late 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, but Harden-Murrumburrah Regional Development Corporation (HRDC) finally got the green light, with Melbourne-based Mongolian street artist Heesco Khosnaran beginning the artwork in January 2021 and completing it by the end of February 2021.
The mural is a depiction of the deep history and significance of the mills to the Murrumburrah-Harden community.
The land for the Mill was purchased in 1858 by Miles Murphy and the flour mill was completed in 1865. In 1868 Thomas Allsopp purchased the mill and introduced many new concepts into the production of milling.
