With so many silos being painted in a close area during a period of just 2 years, the six tiny towns of Devenish, Dookie, Goorambat, Katamatite, St James and Tungamah met up in late 2019 and decided to start our own ‘North East Art Trail’…and here we are!
The North East Art Trail is focusing on a short trail which can be done in as little as a few hours or spread over a long weekend. It also gives us the chance to promote our pubs, camping and accommodation in the area, which many people may not be aware of.
Backed by the three large Shire councils – Benella, Moira and Shepparton – that the 6 towns sit within, we have been working to support each other through the tough times of COVID-19. Fantastic new items such as road signage, toilets and more catering venues have started to appear in late 2022 and more are due in early 2023, with a lot more art in progress already.
Goorambat and Devenish have already signed up artists to paint more large murals. St James has started restoring their heritage shop fronts, whilst Tungamah’s artist returned from Broome to paint yet more artwork around the town. Katamatite have received permission to paint their silo just out of town, and are busy fundraising and applying for grants. Dookie are expanding their ever-growing artwork in all directions.
The North East Art Trail group became incorporated in 2020. The committee has members from across all of the six towns, and we meet regularly to discuss new ideas on ways to promote the many assets in our small towns to make it worthwhile for visitors to linger longer around our towns assets.
The Executive Committee for 2022/23 is: President – June Howard (Devenish), Vice-President – Di Feldtmann (Dookie), Treasurer – Kathy Beattie (St James), Secretary – Roger Tozer (Tungamah).