The Moulamein water tower is nearing completion and marks the fourth installation on the River Country Art Trail, which will eventually have five attractions.

It is a self-contained art trail of large-scale public artworks, put in place by the Murray River Council with the aim of attracting visitors to the area boosting local communities as well as celebrate the region’s rich culture, history, and natural beauty.

Murray River Council was able to access some $1.7 million in grants, and already there has been a noticeable uptake in tourist numbers in Moama, Mathoura and Barham that already have their water towers completed.

The last installation will be a sculpture, located in Tooleybuc, due for commencement in September or October.

Recently the site was visited by the Moulamein Public School students to view the progress and talk to the artist Heesco, asking many questions from how much paint he uses to does he get scared on the cherry picker.

Murray River Council grants officer, Tiana Christie, said the idea of creating the art trail initiated in Barham with the Barham Water Tower Group who were very keen to have their tower painted and needed funds to do it so, it is an expensive undertaking.

“Some funding opportunities came up that we put in for Barham as a stand-alone art piece and then there was also another one to do a larger scale tourism initiative, so that is where the River Country Art Trail originated,” Ms Christie said.

“We looked to include as many towns across our footprint as we could, and we were lucky enough to get both those grants at the time.

“It is designed to encourage people into visiting our towns and we are already starting to see that happening, just the amount of caravans and the amount of traction it has got on social media, people love it and it is something that is for all ages, art is for everyone so it is really exciting that we have something like this.

“It is one of only a few full standalone art trails in the country that then make up the greater Australian art trail, so it’s unique and really good for our council.

“We hope that it encourages people not to just pull up and stop on the side, but to also go and check out the cafés, the pubs and maybe stay a night.”

Heesco is no stranger to painting silos and water towers, with this being his third water tower and having completed a further five silos previously. 

He came to Australia to study art from his childhood home of Mongolia and has set up home in Melbourne with a family and a reputation as one of the finest muralists in the country.