Horsham Silo Art
Horsham Silo Art was completed on the agricultural infrastructure of the Horsham Silo and Flour Mill by artist Sam Bates, aka Smug, in May 2022.
The artwork is titled Yangga Dyata - Walking on Country and focusses on the life of Yanggendyinanyuk (Yang-gen-jin-a-nyook), which means 'his walking feet' in Wergaia language.
Yanggendyinanyuk was born in the mid-1830s on Wotjobaluk Country, and lived a life marked by extraordinary achievement and leadership, whilst also experiencing deep loss and grief.
While he has been publicly celebrated as part of the first Indigenous Cricket tour to England, and for his extraordinary tracking skills in finding the Cooper Duff children of the 'Lost in the Bush' story, Yanggendyinanyuk also saw the loss of his clan and Country.
Having lived as a warrior and hunter of great skill, Yanggendyinanyuk also worked as a mail rider servicing stations all across the Wimmera between Horsham and the South Australian border. He was an accomplished player of draughts, cribbage, billiards, boxing and cricket and was a life-long abstainer from alcohol. A Gamaty, meaning 'Black Cockatoo' was his totem.
Having been twice denied a grant of land as part of a government scheme aiming to attract European farmers to his country, today Yanggendyinanyuk's legacy flows through his descendants and the Native Title over the Country he once walked, and through the re-emergence of the ancient Wergaia language he once spoke.
In 1886, Yanggendyinanyuk passed away at Ebenezer mission, a proud husband to Eliza Townsend and father of nine children.
Note: SMUG has been commissioned to install a third and final artwork at the Yangga Dyata silo site. The two existing artworks will be linked through a new artwork to be painted on a large shed adjoining both structures.
Location
39 Wawunna Road, Horsham 3400 Map
Web Links
→ Silo Art Locations in Victoria with Map
