The Quirindi Silo Art project has to be one of the greatest success stories in the region for the last couple of years. Born from a group of driven locals, the now nationally acclaimed tourist destination is a testament to what can be achieved when determination, and creativity meet.
Located in the heart of town, on Station Street in Quirindi, the large and imposing concrete silos are now a masterpiece, loved by tourists and locals alike. Whilst silo art has become a fairly common feature in the Australian outback, the Quirindi GrainCorp Silos are unique in that they also have a sound and light show that accompany them.
Secretary for the Silo Art Committee, Robert Lewis, said, “The idea originally came from our committee president, Ian Carter. He’d been on a road trip around Victoria and seen how popular silo art was becoming and thought, why can’t we have that too?”
“In 2019 we formed the Silo Art Committee and got to work getting public input, and a petition which we got around 5000 signatures for, and from here we liaised with Liverpool Plains Shire Council and GrainCorp who own the silos to start making the dream a reality.”
With the proposal for silo art in town being embraced by both the community and Council, the committee then got to fundraising, successfully garnering grants from both the State Government and a specific Salvation Army grant from a local donor.
From there the question became who will paint the silos and what will they paint?
“We ended up getting 28 submissions from different artists to work on the silo but in the end selected West Australian artist Peter Ryan, who came out in October 2022 and spent 8 weeks both doing background work with the community and then painting the silos alongside two other artists, including local artist Kate Rutter,” said Mr Lewis.
The final artwork selected is a thoughtful created piece, telling the story of the Liverpool Plains region from Dreamtime, through their rich agricultural history and into their hopes for the future.
“The artwork is stunning, and then we were lucky enough to work with Illuminart to bring that story to life with the most incredible light and sound show,” said Mr Lewis.
The light and sound show now runs for two 25-minute shows every night of the year, starting 7pm in winter and 8pm in the summer months.
The committee have also since gone on to design and implement a viewing area, where visitors can sit comfortably and watch and listen to the show. And if the weather is poor and the viewing area doesn’t seem so appealing? No problem, because the sound can also be picked up on radio station FM88.6 so visitors can listen from the warmth of their cars.
“Kate Rutter is now our main designer for the light show and she works with Illuminart to refresh the show every year so there’s something new for people to see. We also run special light shows for events like Christmas, and we’ll have a new one up on August 13 to celebrate 110 years of the Red Cross,” said Mr Lewis.
“We had four main purpose areas driving us on this project. These were to foster community pride, to increase tourism, especially overnight stays for the town, to increase business and to showcase local talent through the formulation of our lightshows – and we’ve been successful in achieving all of these.”
The project has been an overwhelming success, with the silos taking out three awards in the 2023 Australian Street Art Awards including Best Mega Mural, Best Street Art Experience and Best of the Best overall.
“Thanks to the support of the Liverpool Shire Council and the Liverpool Business Council we now know that, since the completion of the project, tourism and business is up 20% for the town,” said Mr Lewis.
Far from resting on their successes however, plans are now underway for the next chapter for Qurindi’s Silo Art.
“Our work as the Silo Committee is nearly done now,” said Mr Lewis.
“We’re currently seeking out sponsors and partners for the Silo Art and we’ll be transitioning to a Content Committee to manage the lightshow, with Quirindi Rotary managing the project overall – we really want to ensure the project’s longevity.”
Just as the silos are at the heart of the town, the community, and their interests, will continue to be at the heart of any decision-making processes for the future.
“The Quirindi community are as in love with this project as we are,” said Mr Lewis.
“We have lived and breathed this for the last few years and the community has been behind us the whole way.”
For more information about Quirindi Silo art, and any of their upcoming special light displays, you can follow them on Facebook.
Quirindi Solo Art was voted by New England Times readers as the Best Tourist Attraction in the New England 2024.
See the other winners and more details about this promotion.