Art on the Great Victorian Rail Trail

from Murrindindi Guide Spring 2023

Buxton – its past present, people and places – how it evolved

Explore a journey of artistic discovery through beautiful Taungurung Country.

Whatever your ability, at 134 km the Great Victorian Rail Trail has options for everyone – from a short walk or ride, to a multi-day adventure along the entire trail. With spectacular views and points of interest along the trail, Art on the Great Victorian Rail Trail is an exciting new addition for locals and visitors to enjoy.

Taking inspiration from the theme of ‘connections’, eight artists have created pieces based on connection to Country, connection to the local environment, connection to the history of the trail and connection to community. The artworks are situated along the length of the trail, spanning the three Shires of Mitchell, Murrindindi and Mansfield.

One of the artists is Taungurung Elder Mick Harding, who has created a series of 20 scar trees along the trail. Mick and his sons Mitchil and Corey removed the bark from eucalypts and carved symbols into them to articulate their relationship to their Ancestors and Country.

The work draws on traditional tree scarring practised by many First Nations peoples from the south-east of Australia.

Taungurung people have been removing the bark from trees for various purposes such as baby carriers, food collection vessels and canoes for at least 2000 generations. The trees will heal over time, leaving a lasting marker of the continued connection of First Nations people to Country.

You really need to get out on the trail to experience the full scale and impact behind the art installations, below is a short description of each to get you inspired.

We Scar Many Trees (Sites T)

The scar tree carvings symbolise the Taungurung relationship to Warring (Goulburn River) and its associated rivers, creeks and Ngarrak (Mountains).

For site locations see rail trail maps pages 38-39

Scar tree carvings

For more information about Art on the Great Victorian Rail Trail, visit greatvictorianrailtrail.com.au/art or drop into a local Visitor Information Centre. This project was funded by the Victorian Government’s Tourism Investment Fund through a $1.2 million grant.

Traces explores the forms of native plants, flora, and the environmental impact on this land. Inspired by the impression of natural elements and local plants, the work responds to the simple, organic shape of a seed as the key, to reveal the idea of growing and transition.

For sculpture site locations see rail trail maps pages 38-39

Sculpture sites

‘Things is crook in Tallarook’, an Australian colloquialism, speaks to a time when ‘making-do’ with great ingenuity and resourcefulness was a necessity. Inspired by the making of cotton-reel bush furniture, fabricated ‘bowls’ are joined to shape the sentinel forms.

For thousands of years the Kulin Women used cool fire and aeration of the soil to grow Mirnong (Yam Daisy) and other useful plants. This trio of structures acts as carriers for lost stories, knowledge and shared languages.

Soul Train is suggestive of the engine car of a steam train and hints at the growth of industry and agriculture. It is designed to celebrate the rail history of the area in the form of a surprising and colourful folly.

An iron tracing of a branch from a drowned tree, found washed up on the shoreline of Lake Eildon. In time the trees still standing in the lake will be consumed by the water, but this iron tracing will remain. Its hollowness holding a memory of what was here.

Responding consists of a 39m mobile phone tower that gracefully arches over the trail. In their usual display, phone towers sit at heights well above the landscape or our built environments. Here, the tower appears animated, falling close to the ground as if bowing to meet us.