A REGIONAL ROAD TRIP
The Silo Arts Trail By Penny Edmanson
Travellers on the Geelong Ring Road could hardly fail to have noticed the wonderful portrayal of three local individuals Corrina Eccles, Cor Horsten and Kelly Cartwright that appeared on the cement works’ silos at Fyansford. Created by home-grown street artist Rone in December 2017, they were sadly demolished in 2020. Amazed by the realistic depiction and awed by the sheer scale of the work, I started to delve further into such art installations across the state. What better excuse for a holiday than to visit parts of Australia’s largest outdoor gallery. It turned out to be the perfect regional road trip over five days, and could easily be modified or lengthened as desired. The Silo Arts Trail, conceived in 2016 after the completion of the first silo artwork in Brim, recognises and celebrates hard-working rural communities through a series of largescale mural portraits painted on grain silos. At the height of the farming boom, these silos were central to each town as farmers could catch up with their neighbours when bringing their wheat in after harvest. With changes to the industry, these silos became defunct and the art scheme provided an opportunity to acknowledge the town’s history, as well as celebrate the local community. With more and more people following ‘The Trail’, it has also provided a welcome injection into the regional economy.
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Australian mural artist Adnate’s silo artwork at Sheep Hills.
My friend and I made an early start as we knew it would be the longest leg of our travels, with our destination being Mildura. However, the tourist mode kicked in quite close to home, with a stop at The Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie for some chocolate-coated freeze-dried strawberries, and at Freshwater Creek Cakes for some melting moments. Then properly on the road, we took the Midland Highway to Ballarat and on to the Pyrenees region and our lunch destination of Avoca.
Avoca is a lovely town with many historic buildings dating from the gold rush era. It is becoming known as an antiques and collectables centre and is perfectly situated for visiting the many Pyrenees wineries. Ours being an art trail not a food and wine trail, we resisted the temptation and instead sought out Avoca’s ‘Famous Pyrenees Pies’. We weren’t game enough to sample the gourmet pies such as crocodile, emu and camel (all seeming a bit far from home) but could recommend the more mainstream fare.
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