Thursday, 10 February 2022

Colbinabbin Silo Art Trail

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (10:23): I wish to tell the chamber about the opening of the Colbinabbin Silo Art Trail on Sunday, which I was fortunate enough to attend along with the whole town of Colbinabbin but also my colleague Steph Ryan and the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Victoria. I would like to congratulate the chair of the committee, Mary Ann Morgan, her entire committee and also the artist, Tim Bowtell, on what is an absolutely stunning silo art exhibition for people to visit.

The silos in Colbinabbin feature scenes from the town’s history—a town picnic in the 1800s, the railway station, the grain train, the tractor pull from the 1980s—and also one that honours the CFA, with the original tanker from the town, an LU600, featuring on that silo. That tanker now resides in Melbourne East up here at the Fire Services Museum of Victoria, but it actually made a return visit to Colbinabbin for the opening. It was fantastic to have the chief fire officer, Jason Heffernan; the CEO of the CFA, Natalie MacDonald; their chief information officer, Brendan O’Kane; and others from the CFA in Colbinabbin for the opening.

The silos are well worth a visit to Colbinabbin to see. They are a spectacular addition to the silo art trail in Victoria. To quote Julie Price, the manageress of the Colbinabbin Country Hotel, who wrote a beautiful song for the opening:

Come to Colbo and see the silos

It’s a burst of colour in the town

They truly are a burst of colour, and they truly are well worth seeing.