Silo Art in Kimba, South Australia

Summer heat, baking streets, locals with a friendly smile. Halfway between Australia's east and west coast lies a town in South Australia called Kimba.

It boasts an artform only found in the bush: silo art. Against the brilliant blue sky, these huge murals give fresh expression to life in regional towns. They draw the attention of tourists and locals alike.

Silo art refers to huge murals painted on grain silos. Through image and colour silos that have seen better days are recast as something new and exciting. Usually, the images reflect various aspects of life in the bush, such as landscapes or activities like harvest.

Silo Art in Kimba, South Australia (Photo credit: Sonia Morell)

Kimba sits on the Eyre Peninsula, about 465 kilometres northwest of Adelaide. It is a rural service town on the Eyre Highway. The Gawler Ranges are north of the highway near the town, which has a population of approximately 1064 people. Founded in 1915, Kimba takes its name from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘Bushfire.’ Early pioneers fought hard to survive, planting their first crops in in 1908 and paving the way for Kimba to become a major wheat-growing region of South Australia.

When I stood beside the silo art in Kimba, huge swathes of purple dwarfed me, as did the painting of a child in a wheat field. The Eyre Highway eventually crosses the Nullarbor, and the silo art captures this far-flung location masterfully. Its depiction of the sunset over the wheat connects directly to the vast wheat farms of the Eyre Peninsula, reminding viewers of the town’s dependence on and respect for the land. 

Out here, beauty is found in the day-to-day rhythms of the town. The people of Kimba transformed what might be old and disused into art. The silos display their resourcefulness for all to see.

Kimba proved a memorable stop on my road trip. I still marvel at the ingenuity of everyday people who have something to say and find a way to make the ordinary extraordinary.