Victoria's Silo Art Trail is, or was, a longstanding bucket list item for me. I have always been fascinated by the sheer scale of the artworks that have been created on these huge structures and the connection the artists have made with the people of the region they are situated in.
Our trail experience started in Horsham and meandered leisurely through the Wimmera region of Victoria, concluding in the wonderfully named Patchewollock in north west Victoria.
The official silo trail has expanded to more than a dozen individual works but due to time constraints we chose a path that allowed us to take in seven of them as well as the famed Stick Shed at Murtoa and the telegenic town of Minyip, home of Coopers Crossing and where the Eric Bana movie The Dry was filmed.
The star attractions, the silos, are spectacular. Not just in the obvious talent of the artists who created them but also for the tangible way you get a feel for and connect with the communities they depict.
This is a blog about disabled travelling so let me say from the outset that while none of the silos have toilets available, this is a very disability friendly travel experience. All of the silos are viewable from your vehicle or if you'd prefer to wander around them, as I did, they are all on flat, level ground. That being said, they don't call me Wobbly Boots for nothing and I did manage to falll over twice in two days!
Travelling through the Wimmera Region I was immediately struck by the wide open landscape, kilometre after kilometre of flat agricultural terrain, huge investment in farming infrastructure and big skies. The thing that stood out to me the most though was the contrast between the prosperity of the towns we visited.
All of them gave glimpses of what life would have been like when they were thriving communities in post war Australia, but few seem to have gone on to build on that. Minyip enjoys a brisk tourist trade thanks mainly to the fame that The Flying Doctors and The Dry have brought to the town and Ouyen is a bustling centre towards the northern end of the trail, but the rest of the towns are really struggling despite the thousands of Silo Art gazers literally driving through their streets every month.,
Murtoa, Rupanyup and Patchewollock in particular whilst having wonderful names, seem to be in the words of Roger Waters, hanging on in quiet desperation. Empty main sreets with boarded up derelict buildings might make for good photos for passing tourists but you get the feeling that these towns in particular are not benefitting from the very things that are bringing people to their region.
This trail is an experience. Emotive, visually spectacular, full of unique experiences and memorable characters and well beyond my most optimistic expectatiions.
