"The Water Diviner"
Todays few shots take us south from Bingara through the major town on the road, Baraba, erstwhile terminus of a rural railway branch line from Tamworth. Baraba's concrete grain silos, built in 1965 are now the canvas for a wonderful mural by famous artist Fintan Magee who painted this story of success in 2019. You can see that the divining rods have crossed over in the third (far right) silo, signifying success in finding liquid gold.
Here is an extract from the website which is also listed below for more information.
"The town of Barraba is located 99 kms north of Tamworth and is situated on the Manilla river in the heart of the Nandewar Rangers in New South Wales.
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.
Mural Theme
To refine the theme for this mural, Fintan visited Barraba in early 2019 to inspect the site and to meet with the local community. After speaking to the locals he gained an understanding of the local area. He listened to their stories and the concept for the mural was conceived.
In 2019, NSW continued to be in the grip of one of the worst droughts Australia has ever faced, with over 90% of the state in drought. Large areas of NSW were facing severe water shortages, with supply being limited to critical water needs only.
Extract from Fintan Magee's Artist Statement
This 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. Ground minerals and magnetic forces force the sticks to cross or be pushed downwards when water is located. Despite many studies claiming the technique is pseudo-science, diviners continue to be used throughout Australia as a way of finding groundwater.
Work began on the silos on the 25 March 2019 and they were completed just 24 days later on the 19 of April. The Barraba Silos are officially the 28th silos to be included in the Australian Silo Art Trail Collection. ".
www.australiansiloarttrail.com/barraba
As an aside, the link below contains a drone shot of the silos including railway tracks of the mothballed/closed railway which saw its last passenger trains in 1983 apparently and was fully mothballed (read walked away from/abandoned) in the later 1980's. A formal closure date is near impossible therefore to determine.
"The Water Diviner"
Todays few shots take us south from Bingara through the major town on the road, Baraba, erstwhile terminus of a rural railway branch line from Tamworth. Baraba's concrete grain silos, built in 1965 are now the canvas for a wonderful mural by famous artist Fintan Magee who painted this story of success in 2019. You can see that the divining rods have crossed over in the third (far right) silo, signifying success in finding liquid gold.
Here is an extract from the website which is also listed below for more information.
"The town of Barraba is located 99 kms north of Tamworth and is situated on the Manilla river in the heart of the Nandewar Rangers in New South Wales.
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.
Mural Theme
To refine the theme for this mural, Fintan visited Barraba in early 2019 to inspect the site and to meet with the local community. After speaking to the locals he gained an understanding of the local area. He listened to their stories and the concept for the mural was conceived.
In 2019, NSW continued to be in the grip of one of the worst droughts Australia has ever faced, with over 90% of the state in drought. Large areas of NSW were facing severe water shortages, with supply being limited to critical water needs only.
Extract from Fintan Magee's Artist Statement
This 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. Ground minerals and magnetic forces force the sticks to cross or be pushed downwards when water is located. Despite many studies claiming the technique is pseudo-science, diviners continue to be used throughout Australia as a way of finding groundwater.
Work began on the silos on the 25 March 2019 and they were completed just 24 days later on the 19 of April. The Barraba Silos are officially the 28th silos to be included in the Australian Silo Art Trail Collection. ".
www.australiansiloarttrail.com/barraba
As an aside, the link below contains a drone shot of the silos including railway tracks of the mothballed/closed railway which saw its last passenger trains in 1983 apparently and was fully mothballed (read walked away from/abandoned) in the later 1980's. A formal closure date is near impossible therefore to determine.