The Australian Farmer (also known as the Big Farmer) is a

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

located in Wudinna,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Regarded as one of Australia's Big Things, the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

sculpture stands at in height, and weighs in the vicinity of 70 tonnes. It took 17 years to produce from initial proposal to the final unveiling in 2009, and two years for the artist, Marijan Bekic (with the assistance of his son, David), to carve. The stylised work of a farmer represents the early settlers of the region, with carvings symbolising grain and sheep found within the sculpture.

History

The former District Council of Le Hunte (now

Wudinna District Council Wudinna District Council is a rural Local government in Australia, local government area on central Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Its seat is Wudinna, on the Eyre Highway, west of Adelaide. The district's economy is largely driven by agricul ...

) first proposed the idea of a community project in 1992, and the focus quickly moved to the construction of a memorial to the early settlers of the region. Given that the area is well known for its

, it was decided that the project should incorporate the material, and a request for tender was announced in 1999. Croatian-born artist Marijan Bekic responded to the advertisement, producing a scale model of his concept, and this was shown to the local community. With the community's support of the concept in hand, the council sought a grant to fund the project. Although this was not forthcoming, land was donated by the Wudinna & Districts Telecentre, various companies provided sponsorship, and local residents offered food and accommodation for the artist. The result was that the project commenced in 2007, with a projected construction time of twelve months. The project ended up taking the artist and his son two years to complete, and it was unveiled on 17 April 2009. The unveiling was preceded by a number of local events, including a live

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's

Peter Goers Peter Goers is a South Australian arts critic, producer, director, columnist and author who hosted The Evening Show for over twenty years on ABC Radio Adelaide, broadcasting throughout South Australia and to Broken Hill. Goers presented his f ...

. The official launch was attended by over 1000 people, with Federal and

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

politicians

Rowan Ramsey Rowan Eric Ramsey (born 4 August 1956) is an Australian politician who was a member for the House of Representatives seat of Grey from 2007 to 2025. Ramsey is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party, after previously being ...

and Liz Penfold making an appearance. In August 2009, the Australian Farmer was nominated for a Ruby Award in the "Community Impact (over $100,000)" category.

Design and construction

Standing at in height, the work was hand-carved from of local granite. The sculpture is a stylised representation of a farmer. While it takes a basic human form, the top represents the sun, while in the body are carved grain crops.

Sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

are placed at the foot of the statue, representing the sheep farmers in the district as well as creating the feet of the figure when viewed from a distance.

References

{{coord, 33, 2, 49.25, S, 135, 27, 37.61, E, display=title Big things in South Australia 2009 sculptures Granite sculptures Agriculture in Australia Colossal statues in Australia