Continued........
The next trip was to the Farm Expo at Cooroy, I did some more carving, cleaning up of the roots and base. whilst there I met up with a lady from the Gold Coast Qld who wanted to buy the sculpture and take it to the Sydney Olympics (2000) later that year. I couldn't part with Silky, but.... I met a 'Cowboy' who ended up riding shotgun on the Sydney Trip, he was a real character, Akubra hat, sharks' teeth necklace and a blue healer dog.
We arranged a viewing of The Silky for the 'Sydney Consortium' at the Gympie Country Music Muster, I was working there as a venue construction artist and 'Silky would be on display there. It was a good meeting and plans were made for the Olympic tour.
Next trip
The next stop was down to the Ettamogah Pub near the Sunshine Coast Qld for a photo shoot. People were enjoying looking at the Silky next stop was my mate's Richard's spray-painting workshop m at Landsborough to do some more fine tuning and chisel work with another good friend George from Hungry (he carved the Coat of Arms in the Queensland parliament building)
Lastly we sealed the whole statue with several coats of decking oil using a spray gun and gallons of oil, it was looking fantastic
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continued...
Then it was time to say goodbye to 'Silky'. it was loaded on a custom trailer. they had an Aussie themed mural painted as a backdrop to the statue, a sound system installed and away they went. The Australian Surf Lifesavers had partnered with the tour, going to schools, markets and festivals. it turned out they were using silky as a draw card to sell 'Life Changing aura' enhancing pendants.
I learnt all this when I came back to Queensland and so the deal was off, got my truck guy to pick it up and took it to Noosaville and had a tilt trailer with winch built especially for Silky.
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Festivals and Australia zoo...
We went to the Millmerran Camp Oven Festival past Toowoomba, and on the way back dropped into Australia Zoo. Steve Erwin came out for a look and asked I if they would like to display the Silky at the entrance of the Zoo, Silky stayed there for a few months.
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It also went to the Gympie Gold Rush Festival parade down the main street, and then in 2001 i took the Silky around the Sunshine Coast as part of the Australian Federation Celebrations. It was displayed at; Buderim, Cooroy, Cooran, Kin Kin, Pomona, Tewantin, and Marcus Beach.
We went to different shows and schools including:
Amamoor, Dagun, Kandanga, and Kenilworth. Silky statue spent a few months in Eumundi outside a wood art shop and then did a trip to Maleny at the Wood Expo 3 times, winning the 'People's Choice Award' every year.
in 2006, Silky went on the war path, to help fight the construction of Traveston Dam on Mary River Gympie Qld.
Creating awareness of the endangered native animals who had no voice of their own.
Silky travelled from Brisbane to Maryborough educating thousands of people at protests, rallies, and community events. The Dam was cancelled in 2009 by peter Garrett, minister for the environment, on the grounds of 'Listed Threatened Species"...Hooray!
out of retirement and made into bronze
For the next 15 years, Silky had been on display for visitors to the
Woodworks Museum on the north side of Gympie.
We then moved Silky to Tin Can Bay for the towns 100years Anniversary in November 2022 and then to its new home at the Men's Shed where I have begun preparations for the next phase, which will be the process of having a life-size copy made out of bronze as a community project in the Gympie region.
I would like to tour the sculpture around QLD, and hopefully have it displayed at the Olympic Games in Brisbane 2032, and finally to find a permanent home for all to see