Western Australia’s murals and artworks transform its vast landscape

On an arrow-straight back road, beneath a vast blue sky, I pull in and stretch out after a long drive. Crooked fence posts – decades-old, weathered and rusted – stand guard along the side of the asphalt. Ahead, a swathe of golden wheat dances in the late afternoon sun. The rustle is a kind of anthem of the Wheatbelt, a place where farmers face boom and bust; where a good year can set you up, and a bad one can send you under. This way of life and this arresting landscape are woven through the very fabric of Western Australia.

Adventurous travellers have always been drawn to the tough but awe-inspiring landscapes beyond the region’s cities. But now there is an added draw. A first in the country, though since imitated in Victoria, the PUBLIC Silo Trail was opened the year prior to the pandemic. Western Australians have enjoyed their vast state like never before; their borders closed to visitors. But now as travellers return there’s no better time to discover these unique art works and country hospitality.

Amid an agricultural setting, the project has taken functional structures that are still in use and fashioned a 1,000km-long route of epic artworks, taking you from the inland Wheatbelt to the wild Southern Ocean. Grain silos – scattered across seven locations from Northam, 97km east of Perth, down to Ravensthorpe in the southeast and Albany on the Southern Ocean coast – have become vast canvases, stretching up to 40m high.

There’s a rush of excitement as I glimpse my first silo on the outskirts of Northam, a historic town founded in 1833, with a population of a few thousand people, plenty of public artworks and Australia’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge. Pops of bold colour, conceptual shapes and then the full works rise out of the surroundings. Unfolding on an industrial canvas, eight of sixteen fully operational silos that are a part of the project are painted with a mix of abstract imagery and whimsical characters in flying contraptions.

This is the work of renowned artists Phlegm from London and HENSE from Atlanta in the United States. The artwork acts as a vivid antidote to the grey concrete that makes up the squat administration buildings and railway tracks of the CBH Grain Terminal and offers a juxtaposition with the undulating country and stands of eucalyptus trees.

The PUBLIC Silo Trail project, which saw the first artwork unveiled in 2015, was the brainchild of FORM, a Perth-based not-for-profit organisation charged with establishing a culture of creativity across the state. FORM’s (now retired) executive director, Lynda Dorrington, says the underpinning industry of the region and the toughness and resilience of its people were all key in bringing the project to life. Crucial to its success was identifying an iconic aspect of each location – “which [were] the grain silos,” she says. While they are functional, they’re also full of symbolism – a focal point for the generations of farming families in the region.

Starting 1 April 2022, vaccinated travellers on all Singapore Airlines and Scoot flights will enjoy quarantine-free entry into Singapore without any on-arrival test.On your way to Perth why not stopover in Singapore and check out the spots below. To know more about entry requirements for Singapore, check Singapore Airlines’ travel advisory.

Escape the bustling city life and hop on a ferry to Pulau Ubin from Changi Ferry Terminal. The Ketam Mountain Bike Park is one of Singapore’s most scenic cycling routes.

One of Singapore’s best walking trails is the TreeTop Walk at MacRitchie Nature Reserve. Walk along the 250m suspension bridge and get a bird’s eye view of the treetops and animals that live in the forest canopy.

Take a ferry from Marina South Pier to St John’s Island, then cross the link bridge to Lazarus Island, one of the best beaches in Singapore.

The public art aspect aside, it’s obvious that Dorrington’s true passion is the social impact. Given the region’s isolation and dependence on an industry subject to the whims of everything from global markets to the weather, mental health is a big concern. Dorrington says that while this art project isn’t a cure-all, it allows communities “to rethink the immediate”. Instead of just focusing on the weather and a bad crop, it brings people together, creates a sense of pride and is “another something” to think about.

“Lynda and I were both separately realising the opportunity for tourism on this inland route between Perth and Albany, which were the two great twin cities of Western Australia for some time,” explains Nigel Oakey, the owner of both the Farmers Home Hotel in Northam and the impressive Premier Mill Hotel in Katanning, another rural town on the trail. “We both kind of met in the middle one day and now we’re happily focused on working together to bring the region to life,” he says.

Hair slicked back, dressed more for the yacht club than the Wheatbelt, Oakey cuts a memorable figure when I meet him in the low-key lobby of the of his Katanning hotel; a wood fire burning as brightly as Oakey’s enthusiasm for his many projects. The Premier Mill Hotel was the first of many by the owner of the Dôme café chain. The Northam property opened during the pandemic and others will follow.

Oakey loves a good story, and so he enlists social historians to dig deep into the history of the buildings he develops – a process he also followed with the restoration of the Premier Mill. He tells the tale of its 19th-century founder, Frederick Piesse, as if recounting the tale of a long-lost family member. The Premier Roller Flour Mill was a significant fragment of the state’s industrial history, having also previously been one of its first power stations, as well as housing the cellars for Piesse’s winery.

The restoration is impressive. Internal wooden grain silos and an age-worn chimney are melded with the modern work of architect Michael Patroni, of Fremantle’s space-agency architecture firm, to create what Oakey calls a “sophisticated base camp”. In a town where previous accommodation options involved rooms above pubs and average motels to service local commerce and little else, there’s now a true destination for the upscale traveller.

Resurrecting a derelict icon in a rural town, turning it into a boutique hotel, was clearly a risk. While Oakey bought the property for only a dollar, contingent on development, the work required ran into the millions. He’s tight-lipped about the final cost, but his raised eyebrows and strained look say it all. Yet, he also revels in its success. It’s 8pm on a winter’s night and the hotel’s Dôme café is busy with seniors and young mothers – whole generations of local families. As a lady well into her eighties takes his hand and thanks him for all he’s done for the town, he turns to me and says with a grin, “I didn’t set this up!”

Northam: 31°38’29.4”S 116°37’41.6”E

In March 2015 internationally renowned artists HENSE (USA) and Phlegm (UK) transformed eight, 38m silos over 16 days, creating Australia’s first ever painted silo mural and kickstarting a national trend.

Merredin: 31°29’07.2”S 118°15’01.2”E

In August 2017 Western Australian street artist Kyle HughesOdgers completed artworks across four 35m-high silos outside the Wheatbelt town of Merredin. His work tells highlights the town’s natural environment and diverse community.

Ravensthorpe: 33°34’58.4”S 120°02’20.0”E

In August 2016 Fremantle-based artist Amok Island created Six Stages of Banksia baxteri, a 25m high wildflower inspired mural.

Newdegate: 33°05’25.0”S 119°01’19.7”E

Native Western Australian wildlife took centre stage in Brenton See’s sky-high silo art at Newdegate in June 2018. Emblazoned on canvas are the region’s native Western Bearded Lizard, Mallee Fowl, Thigh Spotted Tree Frog and Red-tailed Phascogale.

Albany: 35°01’56.5”S 117°53’42.7”E

In March 2018, the dynamic duo The Yok & Sheryo referenced Albany’s pristine environment and sea-life with one very happy-looking marine creature (and local resident), the ruby seadragon.

The next morning, I hit the road early for the almost two-hour drive to Newdegate. Road trips in the Wheatbelt bring home the vastness of the Western Australian landscape, with its unchanging palette of red-dirt road sidings, vistas of wheat and sunburnt country. To some, it is harsh and unforgiving, but to others, that’s what gives it its beauty. Like in Northam, the silos at Newdegate dominate the surroundings. Grinning through his wiry beard, muralist Brenton See admits he had to take on his fear of heights when he accepted the commission to paint four adjacent silos.

The Fremantle-based artist uses Western Australian flora and fauna as his inspiration. The western bearded dragon, a red-tailed phascogale and a malleefowl – creatures all on the endangered list – stand tall alongside an emblematic representation of the region: its salt pans, freshwater lakes and rugged landscape.

These large-format murals are common in urban centres, but See says his work is better created beyond the city limits. “I have a strong love of conservation and I feel like my work is better suited outside of the city because it resonates with people a lot more,” he says. “As I was painting, people would come up and they’d know what animals they were. That says something; it’s normally me telling them.”

While they are functional, they’re also full of symbolism – a focal point for the generations of farming families in the region.

Off the beaten track, Pingrup – a 45-minute drive from Newdegate – is a place that many would have simply bypassed before. The settlement has a population of close to 120 within a 16km radius. The response to a trio of murals by Florida-based artist Evoca1 has been overwhelming for locals, giving them a fresh perspective on where they live.

From Newdegate, time permitting, you can head east to Ravensthorpe, where you’ll reach the site of Amok Island’s Six Stages of Banksia baxteri, a mural depicting the life cycle of the native wildflower and the animals that pollinate the species. Turn south instead and you can pick between Albany, the dramatic Stirling Ranges or Porongurup National Park, which offers a glimpse of untamed country, rich in flora and fauna and steeped in Indigenous Australian legends.

At journey’s end in Albany, I stand with the ocean wind at my back. My reasons for visiting the port city on the Southern Ocean are almost always culinary, whether it’s reporting on the ever-growing aquaculture industry, the rise of Great Southern wine (particularly known for their cool climate Riesling) or to dine at the likes of Liberte (a Franco-Viet inspired bar-come-restaurant that’s achieved national acclaim).

Ahead of me, a ruby-red sea dragon, native to the waters here, spreads across the four portside silos – the work of Yok and Sheryo, an Australian and Singaporean duo based in Brooklyn. It makes an apt end to a journey that’s taken me from the state’s capital, through its agricultural heartland and to its wild southern coast. The trail is a testament to the die-hard country spirit, and proof that art can have a power beyond its effect on the individual; that it can be a seed from which communities can grow.

Please check the establishments’ respective websites for opening hours as well as booking requirements before visiting, and remember to adhere to safe-distancing measures while out and about.

The information is accurate as of press time. For the latest travel advisory updates, please refer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.

To learn more about Singapore Airlines flights to Perth, visit singaporeair.com. To join us in protecting the environment by offsetting your carbon emissions on your future flights, visit the following websites to learn more: carbonoffset.singaporeair.com.sg and carbonoffset.flyscoot.com

This article was originally published in the August 2019 issue of SilverKris magazine