Coming Home
Artists: Corey Thomas
Materials: Disused farm equipment

Artist

I grew up in the Latrobe valley, moved to Melbourne and arrived back in this part of the country a couple of years ago.

My mother’s side of the family had lived locally up around Childers for decades. My grandfather used to fish in the same creek which runs through my property so for me being back in South Gippsland felt a little like coming home.

Since returning I have been overwhelmed by the warm and open community.  There is a larrikin spirt that still thrives and a genuine hard-work-no-bull-dust attitude to helping out.

This work is based on slashing, raking, and baling of hay. This tough demanding physical job is now almost all automated, however I remember carting hay with my uncle many years ago as a young kid and it was bloody hard, hard work. The quintessential smell of that cut hay has lingered with me all these years.

The piece consists of corrugated iron salvaged from disused and collapsing sheds both at my property and from Ted’s. These structures synonymous with long views of the South Gippsland countryside that nearly withstood the test of time but did not quite make it.  

By reimaging their twisted rusting metal forms, the work suggests themovement of carting, baling, and stacking hay whilst nature in turn throws in a storm, whipping it up like a ribbon, and then strewing it across the landscape. A certain whirly-whirly, wind-gust or whatever name it goes by in your neck of the woods will appear looking majestic in front of the backdrop of the Prom and surrounding tidal islands.
Instagram: coreythomassculpture

Farmers

Located at  Henley Range Road
Welshpool

There is an air of yesteryear when you arrive in Welshpool, a sleepy and pretty country town located on the beautiful South Eastern coastline of Victoria between Foster and Yarram. Framed by the sea on one side and undulating hills on the other, the road up to discover Corey Thomas’ s sculptural installation takes you back to a time where life was slower and things just took their time.

As you steadily climb up the hill, you will pass farmers Ted and Sharyn Allott’s dairy operation - neat, organised and proud as punch. Flanked side by side next to the milking shed are ‘his and hers’ matching blue tractors almost winking at you, a little bit like ‘Young Ted’ as he is known in the local community. He hails from the sort of integral local family where roads are named after them and if you want something done, all you have to do is ask.

This straight talking, quiet fifth generation farmer found love with a ‘townie’ as he puts it. Over twenty years ago now, dazzling local schoolteacher Sharyn stepped into Ted’s life and the rest is history as they say. Together they raised 3 boys and 2 girls. That story is theirs to tell but what they do talk about is making a living from the land. Although this may read like a picture perfect country life, the reality of a dairy farmer’s life can be quite the opposite summed up magnificently by Sharyn - ‘If we don’t make it, it is our own fault’.

Soon after meeting Ted, she put herself through school, learning about nutrition and fertility and in no time found herself running the dairy for a couple of years whilst Ted managed the rest of the family business. In the early days, she would ask Ted, ‘How do you know that?’ Twenty years on, she can now answer this question. Observation is a paramount skill for a farmer. Observing the environment, the weather, the animals is all part of it- she can now glance at a paddock and tell her neighbour, his cow is about to calve and walk back down that same evening and greet the new born.

The couple milk approximately 150 cows over 400 acres of incredible undulating land with superb vistas to Wilsons Prom and it is at the entry to their property on a steep side of the hill down the gulley that Corey has installed his sculptural piece. The artist calls it a backdrop to die for.

Like the farmers, Corey has a deep connection to the area, two years ago, he moved into a small cottage alongside the same river his grandfather would fish at. And it is over clearing of blackberries on Corey’s land where Ted and Corey connected. After asking around town, Ted rocked up on his tractor to unravel decades of blackberry bushes along the creek.

‘However it was over the notorious ‘Box Thorn’ that we really got to know each other’ Corey shared. ‘That stuff is awful. And getting right amongst it while you are getting torn to shreds and working in the heat is when you find out about a person. Ted is the kind of guy who works through pain and just gets the job done. And that is why I wanted to work with him on this installation.’

This Great Southern Bale Trail piece is based on slashing, raking and baling of hay, once a tough and backbreaking affair. Although mostly automated today, Corey recalls a time when he carted hay as a young kid still entranced by the lingering smell of cut hay. The corrugated iron has been salvaged from disused and collapsed tin sheds, which include a 60-year old tin shed complete with hand cut timbers. The tin collected from both the men’s properties has been bent and bashed with time but also with Sharyn’s help on her tractor.

Corey has formed 4 metre high ribbons of steel reminiscent of hay bales knocked on their side or strewn by the wind. His intention is to animate what is not animated, to bring to life what is still and then step back like farmer Ted, observe before taking the next step. Perhaps he has tapped in his original career as a ballet dancer where form and structure lay side by side with flow and grace.

It would be remiss of us not to reflect on the repeated theme of romance, one we suspect would be vehemently denied by farmer and artist alike - Ted and Sharyn’s love affair and bonding with the land, Corey’s coming home to his roots by the river, the men working side by side, raw and honest conversations over home made scones as well as Sharyn’s full dive into her role as farmer and farmer’s wife. Yet what we take from it is the full immersion and dedication each have for their own craft and their life choices, a coming of home of sorts for the trio.

We highly recommend saying G’day if you see the artist in residence whipping up his ribbons or if you see Young Ted whose real name is Neil but we will leave it to the farmer or his wife to tell you the story, if they wish to. This installation like the sleepy town of Welshpool will surprise and delight you but it will be in it’s own time, not ours; a timely reminder that all good things take time.
By Beatrice Imbert

Artist
Corey Thomas

Farmer
Sharyn Allott and ‘Young Ted’