The little town of Bendemeer has some big plans – really, big plans! Plans that involve sculptures so big they have to be installed by crane. It’s called the New England Sculpture Track, or NEST, for short and it’s already begun to make the streets a little more beautiful, one artwork at a time.
Chairperson for the Bendemeer Art Show committee, James Hook, said, “It all started with an idea of being able to leave a lasting artistic legacy for our town.”
“We’ve had the Bendemeer Art Show going for 40 years now and, after a discussion with this year’s judges, Stephen King and Julia Griffin, the proposal of street sculptures came up.”
As fate would have it, a stunning property in the Southern Highlands had just what Bendemeer was looking for.
“Hillview Estate was the old vice-regal retreat for NSW State Governors and it had just been sold,” said Mr Hook.
“The property was known for its incredible sculpture park but, due to the sale, the artists had been told they had 8 weeks to relocate their works.”
“One of my favourite words has always been ‘serendipity’ and this has been a beautiful example of just that – we’ve grabbed the opportunity and run with it.”
From here it was a flurry of activity, getting support from the artists, and finding $50,000 funding from a number of donors to allow 20 pieces to be moved from Hillview at Sutton Forest, to their new home in the New England.
“These are incredibly large-scale sculptures so we had to get straight to council to get the ball rolling on some parcels of public land where we could locate some of the pieces,” said Mr Hook.
“Currently we have 4 sculptures in temporary locations around Bendemeer and the others are being stored until we can move forward with plans.”
Three exceptionally impressive Peter Lundberg Sculptures, Chopin’s Loop, Walking Woman and Standing Man are the figureheads of the track thus far. With Mr Lundberg himself writing a letter of endorsement for NEST.
It is hoped that the initial track will link Bendemeer, Woolbrook, Walcha Road and Walcha.
Stage two is planned to then link Bendemeer to Uralla, Kootingal and Tamworth.
Bendemeer is pitched as the ideal crossroads location as it sits at the junction of both the New England and Oxley Highways.
“We want to achieve a couple of things overall with NEST,” said Mr Hook.
“First and foremost, the aim is for beautification of our streetscapes – to brighten things up a little for the community.”
“Secondly, this is will be a huge tourist drawcard. Tourism will not only support our, and neighbouring town’s economies, but will also allow us to seek further government funding for some of our auxiliary infrastructure, like getting the historic Bendemeer Bridge repaired.”
Mr Hook cites major influences for the project being Syndey’s Sculpture by the Sea, as well as the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail, and Sculpture Down the Lachlan.
Once in place, most of the sculptures will be on a loan agreement with the sculptors and will be available for purchase. The hope is that funds from this can then be reinjected into the NEST project to keep paying for new sculptures, or any other works required.
“We’ve got our proof of concept now in place and we’re now going through the process of putting our applications in with higher levels of government for grant funding and the like,” said Mr Hook.
“Our plan is for the official NEST opening and acknowledgement of sponsors to occur in conjunction with our annual Bendemeer Art Show in May 2025.”
When asked what the community response to the project thus far has been, Mr Hook said, “The majority of the community are very positive and even those who are a little more on the fence about the sculptures themselves can still see the value in the bigger picture.”
“At the end of the day this is about a little town trying to improve itself and I don’t think you can ever put enough value on something that brightens up someone’s day.”
For more information on NEST or the Bendemeer Art Show, visit their website.
Top mage: Walking Woman (Peter Lundberg) 36 tons being lowered to ground at “Hillview’ Sutton Park (supplied)
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