Another one of our stops along the Silo Art Trail and our Big Lap of Australia brings us to the Yorke Peninsula town of Kimba sitting as it does at the midway point between the East and West coasts of Australia. So what better place for another Silo Art painting.

Kimba Silo

Australian artist Cam Scale certainly lives up to his name with this colossal painting stretching 60-metres across five and a half silos and reaching 25-metres skywards. The image of a young girl standing in a wheat field known simply as ‘Nelly’ was completed in September 2017 and is Scales* first silo painting. His latest silo painting in Devenish, South Australia, is an ANZAC tribute to nurses of war past and present.

Unlike most of the Silo Art we have seen so far, Cam Scale uses a mix of hand brush painting along with an industrial scale aerosol spray gun.

Location

Although a viewing area has been created by the side of the highway it isn’t possible to get a clear view of the entire painting due to trees and shrubs. It’s even harder to get a good photograph from ground level and it’s clear from footprints that many people choose to stand on one of the tables the community has installed.

For anyone wanting to get the best possible photograph late afternoon is by far the best time. Any earlier and the sun is on the wrong side of the silos and the colours just seem muted in the shade.

It would have been good to use our drone’s camera to capture an image from a better viewpoint but the silo is too close to the road, buildings and the local Police Station! A decent viewing platform is definitely needed here.

Getting picky

Having seen several amazing paintings so far, one noticeable difference with the Kimba silos is the poor casting of the concrete when they were originally constructed leaving a pretty rough and uneven surface, which shows through the paint. We’re starting to get picky now!

If you happen to be waiting for the sun to move around or just happen to need a bite to eat or a great coffee, we can highly recommend Eileen’s Cafe just off the high street.

Flamin’ Galah’s

This isn’t Kimba’s first attempt to attract passing trade. Just across the railway line sits a rather oversized Galah. It looks as though it has seen better days but it joins the cast of many giants around Australia though their days may seem numbered now that Silo Art is the theme of the Wheatbelt towns in the southern regions of the country.

Halfway between here and there

The official halfway marker lays just beyond the silos and provides a large area to park and signboards to read about the early pioneers who traced a path across the country and ventured from Adelaide through the centre of Australia to Darwin.

* Cam Scale’s website shows many of his mural installations across Australia, which he has been creating since the year 2000.