Barraport - Piccoli's Spanner Sculptures
A two acre garden has many large sculptures which John Piccoli has made from old spanners placed amongst the trees and garden beds. Horses, bulls, fish, mermaids and men, all larger than life, inhabit the rambling garden - their spectacular forms crafted from rusty brown and gleaming silver spanners.
Birds are also a feature and the garden is dotted with enclosures housing brightly coloured and often rare species.
A collection of 84 different types of old horse-drawn equipment line the front and back driveways. Many other interesting things are to be seen as you walk through the magnificent garden.
Sculpture Gardens Map
Opening Hours:
Opening days are Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays. Tours at 10:30am and 2:30pm. Bookings are not necessary for individuals.
Cost:
$15 adults, U18 $5
Access for Dogs:
Pets welcome on leash.
Note: Sadly the artist John Piccoli has passed away but you can still see his work.
Review:
This is the type of place that I knew I was going to love before I even arrived and it lived up to all my expectations. The combination of huge sculptures cleverly and painstakingly crafted from spanners, colourful and cheeky birds running around and displayed in aviaries coupled with a laid-back country host makes this a brilliant experience.
When you arrive there is a short video you can view which provides some history about John Piccoli including his battles with polio (he spent three years in hospital during his childhood) and how he made his epic sculptures. The huge Wagon and Clydesdale sculpture weighs three and a half tonnes and contains 6000 spanners. John created the images in his head and never used drawings for his work. The Shearer and merino ram sculpture took six months to make and the shears are actually constructed from four spanners. The used spanners were purchased at swap meets for about $2 each.
There are two driveways which are both lined on both sides with old Mallee farming equipment which were purchased at farmers clearance sales. There is also a shed with John Deere tractors, vintage cars and trucks and a Furphy wagon. A museum has a collection of old wheelchairs (John Piccoli was in a wheelchair due to childhood polio) and toys.
There are areas with delightful animals such as llamas, deers and goats and lots of birds roaming freely around such as Guinea Fowl, ducks and turkeys. Within avaries there are Superb parrots, Regent parrots, budgerigars, galahs, Mulga parrots, Pale-headed Parrots and beautifully coloured pheasants and poultry.
On the north side there is a dam with a boat, Orca.
For the kids there is a trampoline in a shady garden. Keep an eye out for Sir Tow Mater tow truck.
Location
1314 Boort-Quambatook Road, Barraport 3537 Map
✆ (03) 5455 4257 / 0408 932 181
Web Links
→ spannerman.weebly.com
→ Spanner Man - John Piccoli on Facebook
