Horsing around
Sculptures made of ‘junk’, all fashioned to be variations of an equine nature, welcome visitors to this remote corner in the west of Australia.
ONE would never expect that a simple farming community in Western Australia could provide so much amusement to a visitor. This was the case with Kulin, 280km east of Perth. While driving along the Tin Horse Highway, past the flat landscape of wheat fields that seemed to stretch on forever, we were continually surprised by quirky horse sculptures that suddenly appeared to the left or right of us!
We kept on stopping the car to gaze longer or laugh at some comical shape or character. We sometimes got out of the car to take a closer look, to admire and to study some details. And of course we were kept busy snapping shots of some of them – and from different angles, too.
For over 20 years, the annual Kulin Bush Races, a not-for-profit event, has raised funds for local facilities and projects like care for the aged, education programmes, the Flying Doctor Service and a new aquatic centre. Held on the first weekend of October, the Kulin Races is a meet, not only for the fastest horses in the Wheatbelt, but also for the fastest farm dogs and sheep too. It is a family-orientated event, with a gymkhana, food, live music, an art exhibition, a wine bar and a Tin Horse Competition.
In the mid-1990s, the residents came up with a campaign to promote these races with things made out of farm junk but with a touch of humour. With some paint, signage with witty puns and a great deal of imagination, the road to the race track was soon lined with attractions never seen before. Horse characters were assembled from corrugated iron, disused car parts, oil drums, old pipes, old farm machinery and other bits and pieces lying around.
At the Aquatic Centre of Kulin, where we spent a night, we caught sight of our first tin horse “diving” sculpture, “Thorpedo”, inspired by the Australian Olympic legend Ian Thorpe. We later also came across several other entertaining sculptures connected to some celebrities, like “Colt” – in the likeness of Usain Bolt’s special pose – and a horse holding a tennis racket, named “Fillypoosis” (built in 2004 when Mark Philippoussis hit the headlines for swearing at Wimbledon).
Among my favourites is a bucking horse with its rider thrown off onto the ground, a baker at work, one sitting on a toilet reading “Playhorse magazine”, a horse in an airplane with its mane blowing in the wind, and a couple dancing to a jukebox. We heard that some have disappeared or been removed. As farmers tried to outdo one another and new interesting pieces were fashioned, a competition was created to cater for this competition – now in its seventh year.
With so much excitement generated by these quirky pieces, the Shire of Kulin recently produced a book aptly named Much More The Metal. It is a documentary of the stories behind the metal masterpieces, and their makers who have left their mark on the cultural history of the community.
We did not complete the 15km self-drive trail which heads east from the town of Kulin out to the Kulin Bush Races at Jilakin Rock (officially known as the Gorge Rock-Lake Grace Road).
We must have spent over an hour before we decided to make a U-turn to watch out for those on the other side of the road while heading back to Perth. If one had the time, one could hunt for over 70 tin horses displayed on the Tin Horse Highway, in Kulin town and along other roads to Kulin.
It is truly awesome that farm junk can be turned into such amazing sculptures. These hilarious gangly tin sculptures, iconic to the region, certainly give a weird and wonderfully whacky welcome to tourists converging at this quiet corner of Australia.
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.