Silo Art

Release date: 21 May 2018

Since 2015 some spectacular large-scale artworks have revitalised small, drought-stricken rural communities across Australia. While street art’s domain is typically the laneways and brick buildings of the city, it is the towering grain silos of Australia’s wheat-growing regions that have brought street art to the country. Painted by renowned street artists, these incredible painted silos have become landmarks in their own right, attracting increasing numbers of visitors and putting their tiny towns on the national and international map.

The stamps

This stamp issue, designed by Janet Boschen Design, features photographs of four painted silos in rural Australia. 

$1 Guido van Helten, Brim, Vic.

The first of the six silo projects that now comprise Victoria’s 200-kilometre Wimmera–Mallee Silo Art Trail was painted at Brim. Brisbane artist Guido van Helten completed the monochrome mural depicting four Brim farmers, in early 2016.

The stamp photograph is from Round 3 Creative.

$1 Drapl and The Zookeeper, Thallon, Qld

Queensland’s first silo murals, in the South West town of Thallon, were painted in 2017 by Brisbane artists Drapl and The Zookeeper. The Watering Hole shows local imagery that includes the Moonie River.

The stamp photograph is by Damien Morgan.

$1 Amok Island, Ravensthorpe, WA

In Western Australia, FORM’s PUBLIC Silo Trail includes the silos at Ravensthorpe in the southern Goldfields–Esperance region. Six Stages of Banksia baxteri, based on the area’s unique flora and fauna, was painted by Fremantle-based Amok Island in 2016.

The stamp photograph is by Bewley Shaylor, courtesy of FORM.

$1 Heesco Khosnaran, Weethalle, NSW

The first art silos in New South Wales were painted in 2017, in the Central West town of Weethalle. Melbourne artist Heesco Khosnaran’s monumental mural of a shearer and wheat farmer is a celebration of the town’s agricultural history.