Across Australia - Part 8 - Mural trail south of Echuca, Victoria

 Hello dear readers, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

This week I bring you more from our Across Australia tour. I hope you are enjoying it. As there is so much more to show you. If you missed last weeks post - Echuca on the Murray River - you can see it at the link. 

Today we travel south from Echuca to follow a silo art and mural trail - 136km. We travelled over flat agricultural land heading south. Here is a map -

It was a cold, cloudy and partly drizzly day, but we managed to keep mostly out of the rain. Our first stop was Rochester only 31km from Echuca. Here we saw the amazing silo art painted by Jimmy D’vate commissioned in 2018. 

There are four silo art works at the site. You can read more about Rochester art here - Rochester Silo Aart and More   and here - Australian Silo Art - Rochester

True to his ethos of highlighting local and endangered species, Dvate chose to feature the Azure Kingfisher, an elusive bird sensitive to habitat degradation, and the nocturnal Squirrel Glider. A distinctive membrane allows Squirrel Glider to glide effortlessly between trees. Native to eastern Australia, this shy glider faces serious population decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation.

These two remarkable, yet vulnerable creatures, call the region home.  

Site 2 features the the duck-billed platypus—commonly referred to simply as the platypus. It is one of Australia’s most unique and fascinating animals. As the only living representative of its family and genus, the platypus is a monotreme, meaning it lays eggs despite being a mammal. We had seen the platypus previously in Tasmania and Queensland. 

Site 3 features the New Holland Honeyeater, a bird which is highly sensitive to changes in habitat. 

Whilst in Rochester we also viewed the Mural Park on Moore Street, which features a selection of murals by various artists created as part of the annual Rochester Mural Festival. The murals are for sale. 

Viewer's choice award

Our next stop was Kyabram. Maize is grown in this area as a fodder crop. 

We had our picnic lunch at a picnic shelter overlooking the water tank art. Again painted by Jimmy Dvate in his distinctive realistic style, it was completed in 2021.  Unfortunately most of it we had to view through a fence. You can see one side from the picnic shelter, and then drive around to the other side to view the other murals.   

The mural highlights the wetlands at the Kyabram Fauna Park, and features the eastern long necked turtle, the Golden Whistler and a red-capped robin along with other birds, animals and insects including a yellow crimson rosella, a Major Mitchell’s cockatoo, a plains-wanderer, a spotted-tail quoll, a blue skimmer dragon fly, a brolga and a bush stone-curlew. 

The total size of the mural is 608 m2, 29 days (567 hours) to paint, 396 cans of spray paint, 140 litres of paint, and 150 litres of sealer topcoat. 

I am never cease to be amazed by the size and artestry of the murals we have seen. 

Our next stop was Tongala were we saw some of the over 40 street art murals, an Avenue of Honour, Vietnam War Memorials, and a memorial to the Australian Light Horsemen and their mounts, depicting a soldier carrying his horse’s saddle and saddle blanket.  

Because of quarantine regulations the Light Horsemen had to leave their mounts in the Middle East at the end of 1918. Some were sold as remounts to the British and Indian armies, and some were sold to locals. In June 1965 the 4th / 19th Light Horse Regiment, now a mechanised cavalry, were the first to land in South Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

Murals around Tongala

I love this mural - so current - it says - "Gee Grand, it's not that hard. Go into settings. Select wi-fi. Select it. Tap on it with your finger. OMG any finger!"

On the way back to Echuca we stopped to see the Upside Down Dunny at the Falcon Hotel at Kanyapella 

 We didn't do the whole circuit, but we enjoyed what we had seen, and had been away most of the day, and wanted to return to Echuca, and one last walk along the Murray River before we moved on the next day.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this look at the silo and mural art south of Echuca. You can find out more here - Echuca-moama-silo-art-trail and at the various links in this post. 

Find out more about Australian silo art here - Australian Silo Art Trail - a great resource with information about silo art all across Australia. 

For more silo and mural art on our Across Australia travels - Part 5 - Through the Wimmera

I hope you will join me next time when we explore around Rutherglen and bushranger Ned Kelly country. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
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  Saturdays Critters - Viewing Nature With Eileen
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• Monday Morning Blog Club @ Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs
• Cosy with Coffee - Weekly Wonders 
• Monday Murals @ Colourful World
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Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy, be kind, and be with people who make you smile.