Power pole art

The newest addition to Agnes Water and the Town of 1770 are a series of individually and artistically painted power poles.

The Agnes Water Cultural Art Trail Group came together early in 2019 after local Tracey Lee put it out to the community that she personally got so much enjoyment from seeing accessible art installations on her bicycle tours around Australia.

The community overwhelmingly agreed that accessible art was something they enjoyed. A meeting was quickly held at a café.

Within an hour unanimous and harmonious decisions had been made.

They had a group name, set a theme and were ready to roll.

20 poles for 2020, flora and fauna indigenous to the area.

The next stage was long and cumbersome

Tracey contacted Energy Queensland, and spoke to “Steve” who straight away was happy to help her navigate the paperwork and red tape.

All was going well, everything looked promising, then in 2020 the world changed, Covid 19 put a sharp and dramatic holt to the artistic endeavour.

Quietly, in the background, Steve and Tracey kept the flame alive, then, once travel and contact restrictions were lifted, a safety supervisor from Energy Queensland was able to come and inspect the poles and help choose suitable and safe poles.

It was time to fundraise

The group held a sausage sizzle, a few generous businesses and locals jumped in and provided financial support or a donation of paint, brushes, and jars to store and mix paint.

Bunnings in Bundaberg helped with two separate donations of materials.

This was a massive community effort to help get the local emerging and established artists out at a pole.

Each artist filled out an Expressions of Interest Application. Once they had done that we helped with pole selection. Their poles were cleaned and undercoated, and they were given a box of paint, and were set  loose to beautify the poles.

Tooting an artist as they painted became a real thing. The community were right there behind each artist as they spent hours in extreme weather, brightening the once graffitied and boring poles.

Some locals claimed artists as their own, feeding them, bringing cold drinks or warm coffee.

To watch the locals and tourists stop, take a moment, and smile has brought joy to all the artists involved.

They have completed a massive 27 poles with 26 artists.

Each pole was then treated with anti-graffiti paint, to preserve the work and deter vandalism.

Please enjoy the poles, they were created for you, by us, with love from the heArt.

*Edit 26/02/2022: There are now 31 NEW poles that have been painted, bringing the total to 58 fabulous power poles!

Below is an interactive map you can use to enjoy and explore all 27 poles.

The best way to explore these pieces of art is by walking or cycling. There are some amazing details to be discovered when you walk around the pole and see them their entirety.

The map can be opened on your mobile phone in the GOOGLE MAPS app and you can also SAVE and SHARE the map with others.