Recently, my little home town of Beerwah underwent a facelift organised by Council. Underground power was installed in the main street, new footpaths, gardens with exotic native plantings, a complete revamp all round really. Including "Street Art" - because in todays world Councils believe no works are complete without spending dollars (and lots of them) on Artwork. Here is a look at ours.............
Yes - that was my first thought too!!!! Something from outer space. And what pray tell does that have to do with the sleepy country town of Beerwah?????
The sculpture/art constists of one large "Mother Ship", for want of a better word, and several smaller "Space Pods" dotted along the footpath. Little, knee high, ones these are - just waiting for the unsuspecting person to stub their toe and go arse over the top.
The sculptures are created from patinaed steel, bronze and copper. They have an integrated, sensor driven lighting system that turns on when movement is detected and turns off when the street is quiet. Supposedly, artist Russell Anderson used a fictitious story to help inspire his design. The story goes something like this........
At one time Beerwah was
home to hundreds of pineapple farms. The
competition was fierce with growers constantly looking for ways to create
bigger, sweeter less spiky fruit than their neighbours. Another important edge was to be “first-to-market”
thereby attracting the best price early in the season.
In this regard, the
years between 1931 and 1951 were dominated by one farmer – ‘Speedy’ Joseph
King. He worked solo on his patch and
never hired pickers. One day the field
would be full of pineapples, and the next it would be empty. No-one ever saw the pineapples leave his farm
but they were always there at the market, ahead of everyone else.
Many gossiped about his
seemingly mystical gift but it wasn’t until the late 1970’s when his property
was auctioned by Public Trustee that Joe’s secret came to light……..
The equipment sheds on
Joe’s farm were overflowing with mechanical equipment and bizarre machinery as
had never been seen before. Information
from his journals makes us believe that the most advanced of these pieces of
equipment appeared to be a “Matter Transporter” complete with isolation pods –
designed to allow the safe transportation of his fruit quickly to market.
Definitely a talking point amongst the locals. Is the story true? Are they necessary? How much did they actually cost?
But foremost on everyones mind..........watch where you are walking or the little ones give you a very close encounter of the footpath kind.
