On Tuesday I decided to visit some silo and street art around Forbes so I headed off to Manildra where a small water tank and the base of a silo had been painted by Jimmy D’Vate, who has also painted silos at Goorambat, Rochester and Waikerie. His silos are among the best in my opinion and the artwork at Manildra was of the same high standard.
I visited the local cafe to buy a roll for lunch and was very happy with the loaded ham and salad roll that even included beetroot, I would enjoy that later in Nangar National Park. Next stop was Molong which is about 50 Km west of Orange, here a decommissioned water tank had been painted. The tank had been built around 1928 to provide water for steam engines on the nearby railway line.
The main artwork was of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell who traversed this area on his 4th expedition and was guided by Yuranigh a local Wiradjuri man. Mitchell was so impressed with Yuranigh and asked the Governor to organise a suitable headstone for him after he had died. Yuranigh was buried according to the local Aboriginal traditions with carved trees around his grave which indicated he was a significant person in his tribe.
The artwork on the rest of the tank focussed on Australian birds.
My next stop was Nangar National Park, I had visited here 15 years or so ago and had lunch with Marg at the same picnic table so it brought back lovely memories. The picnic and campground is a delightful spot with a creek curling around high hills with clumps of weathered rocks among the trees.
One feature of the park is Dripping Rock which drips throughout the year, but rarely has flowing water. This year is an exception with water flowing over the rock that usually drips. I seem to recall that on our last visit the rock was barely dripping. The road into the park had lots of potholes and numerous shallow creek crossings, not really suitable for a caravan.
From here I went to Eugowra where there was street art to view. This small town has few big buildings so all those that exist had artwork. The town lies on Escort Way named after a famous robbery of the coach carrying gold to Orange. In the attack the gold commissioner was killed by Gardeners gang of bushrangers who escaped with over $2M of gold. The attack is depicted on the right below and Gardners gang on the left under the Farmers painting.
Wednesday will be spent at Forbes with two Zoom crossword sessions to run and shopping to be done. Thursday will be my last day in Forbes and I will visit the rest of the Sculptures Down the Lachlan.