As we’ve mentioned more than once before, small towns around Australia are creating something of interest or unique to attract passing trade in the hope they will spend some money and help the local community. Times are tough right now and no more so than in our farming regions suffering from an extended drought. So what better way than create works of art on some of the largest buildings that’ll you’ll see dominating the countryside – giant grain silos.

And so, with local government investment from Mount Remarkable District Council, the town of Warribara in South Australia commissioned a Silo Art painting by Australian born artist Smug (aka Sam Bates). It is by far the most impressive we’ve seen so far on our journey around the country. This was Sam’s first silo painting having earlier made his name as a wall mural artist. He now lives in Glasgow, Scotland and is creating quite a stir with his stunning, photo-realistic paintings throughout Europe.

Like several we have seen to date, a car park and a safe viewing area have been constructed. With travellers in mind too the car park is big enough to handle those like ourselves that are towing caravans.
Smug’s Warribara Silo shows amazing detail from the creases in the farmer’s skin, the texture in his shirt and the intricate delicate feathers of the Robin. Bearing in mind these silos are 28-metres tall, nearly all the work was carried out from a cherry-picker platform and painted entirely by hand over a three week period.

Aerial view

Though it was a little windy on the day we visited the silo we were able to take a photograph from our drone to get a better angle on the painting. Wide-angle lenses make tall buildings appear to tilt backwards but the drone can hover half-way up the silo and show the structure as it really appears.

And there’s more

There are plenty more silos, water towers and street art to see and the list keeps growing – currently 35 silos alone. Whenever we now pass by a plain white silo we usually comment ‘that one needs painting’.

We’d highly recommend adding a Silo Art Trail to your travels wherever you area around Australia. There are several websites listing the trails and locations. The best we have found so far is: Australian Silo Art Trail Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.