Overview
Duration: Approximately 2.5 hours driving from Benalla (allow extra time to see the silos)
Total distance: 150 — 180 kilometres
Start: Benalla (2.5 hours from Melbourne)
Benalla is a thriving hub for visual arts of all kinds and in particular, the vibrant murals that adorn buildings, walls, pavements and public spaces. These works are painted on a mass scale by renowned artists from around the country and globe, during the town's annual Wall to Wall festival.
The success of the event has extended to surrounding areas. A trail of stunning silo art can now be followed as a self-guided tour (the North East Victoria Silo Art Trail), which links together smaller towns and the Winton Wetlands.
Start with a Benalla Street Art Tour (or a self-guided walk) to see dozens of works created during the Wall to Wall festival – a curated long-weekend program of real-time art created by leading Australian and international artists.
Drive on to the small town of Goorambat, where you'll find two works of public art. The grain silos feature three works by Melbourne street artist Jimmy Dvate, notably of an endangered bird of prey from the area. Matt Adnate has painted his depiction of the female aspect of the Holy Trinity on the wall of the Uniting Church. 'Sophia' came into being as part of the 2017 Wall to Wall festival.
Continue along the trail to the town of Devenish, where Cam Scale's three towering murals pay homage to local community involvement in military service. Continue on to see the silo at St James. Artist Tim Bowtell has dedicated his mural to Sir George Coles, a town local who founded Coles supermarkets.
Sobrane Simcock was the first Australian female street artist to participate in the silo project, painting dancing Brolgas and a Kookaburra onto the privately owned Tungamah Silos in 2018.
Head further north to the town of Katamatite, to see the newest addition to this trail. Tim Bowtell has created another captivating mural, which speaks to the towns Indigenous and settler history. Displayed across both silos, the murals are linked by the depiction of a Scar Tree, running down the centre of the silos.
Duck into the town of Dookie to take in the Dookie Nomadic Silo project. Local farmers have loaned and donated portable grain bins, which have then been adorned with murals by local and international artists. Look out for them in town, in public parks and paddocks around the district.
The final leg of the journey along the North East Victoria Silo Art Trail is the Winton Wetlands, the largest wetlands restoration project in the Southern Hemisphere and nationally significant habitat for many endangered bird species. Guido van Helten's portraits of three local Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers on a water tank can be found along the self-drive Art Trail within the wetlands, which also features works such as 'Martins Barge' and the famous 'Fish Trees'.
