A giant magpie in the streets of Euroa

LOCAL artists Steve Tobin and Tank Art are famous in the region for their massive sculptures of native birds such as kookaburras, cockatoos, fairy wrens and now the duo is looking at building a gigantic magpie for Euroa. The previous sculptures were realised at the request of Danny Thomas from Ulupna Island Pastoral – Mr Thomas also funded their realisation – and can now be seen at 610 Ulupna Bridge Road on the Murray River. The Tank and Tobin sculptures duo also has just been commissioned to make a pelican for Numerkah and a six meter wedge tail eagle. But this time, the magpie would stay where she will be created, in the Strathbogie Shire. "We have been making birds for private commissions for 12 months and we would love nothing more than to bring some art to the Strathbogie shire," Mr Tobin said. He said the Longwood Action Group had already got funding to bring back the old water tank that used to fill up the steam trains in order to build the new bird and that he hoped to involve as many local artists as possible. "We hope this we hope will be the start of a sculpture park in Longwood and part of a sculpture trail that starts in Avenel and follows the Hume corridor through Longwood, Euroa and Violet Town," Mr Tobin said. "Being the home of the Euroa Magpies we thought a Magpie would be a great start as we have such a strong Football/netball club and would get the young crew interested in art. "We plan to build the Magpie on a plinth that could be easily moved and it may live in the Sevens Park but could be easily be moved for match days or moved into town for special events such as the Euroa show or wool week. "We would like to remind people that art funds come from arts grants and do not come out off rates payers' money." The artistic duo had the idea to create a challenge in order to fund the magpie sculpture, asking people to take a picture with the most people in it with their wren sculpture, and the winner will receive $250. "This is a teaser for hopefully the magpie we want for Euroa," Mr Tobin said "It is for non–profit clubs or a charity of a family's choice. "We need to support the Euroa Community Action Group and the Euroa chamber of commerce and to get the funding from the Strathbogie Shire Council to make the Magpie happen." Mr Tobin said these projects wouldn't see the light of day without volunteers. "It takes a lot of work from volunteers who donate their time to achieve these goals," he said. "We hope this is the first step for the people get to see how just driving past a giant Magpie that stands at three meters tall makes you smile and feel good." The cockatoos were a massive hit when they were still in front of the White Hart Pub in Longwood and Mr Tobin thinks the magpie in Euroa might also be a sensation. "We also hope that tourists will stop and get a photo of the magpie and have a beer in the pub buy some groceries and keep calling in on their way to wherever they are going," he said. "There is a downside though, we might get a few Collingwood supporters in town to get a photo with the magpie, but if we put the bird in front of the dentist it should keep them away. "We think the Shire of Strathbogie needs to get a bit more cool stuff happening. "There are so many great artist just sitting in the wings waiting to showcase their art, and all living in or from the shire." Mr Tobin said this new magpie project had already had some good feedback on social media. "We have had some absolutely great feedback on Facebook," he said. "Watch out, you may see a cameo appearance of one of our birds in the next week or two in town."