A very successful event held for the second paddock art sculpture competition of “Animals on Bikes” on Saturday night with over 300 people in attendance to hear the winners of the $10,000 prize money.

44 NEW sculptures and letter boxes have appeared along the 120km Obley rd in the last couple of months, with one entry from Cumnock Public school displaying 26 individual sculptures for the letters of the alphabet.

“The letter A which depicts an Ant on a bike starts just 4 km out of Molong then every 4km there is another letter B for Butterfly, C for Cockatoo until you approach the Zoo, the final one is Z for Zebra” said Christine Weston, one of the organizers for the community project.

The new ones plus the 42 sculptures from 2009 competition, now makes 111 masterpieces that can be encountered along the scenic back rd to the Dubbo Zoo.

There was fierce competition this year with much larger and grander scaled sculptures requiring cranes, trucks and tractors to move them into place. While other smaller ones had solar lights and wind powered windmills. One farmer has made an enormous dinosaur out of tractor, truck, ute and car tyres however the piece weighed over 3 tonne and had to be built on-site.

John Fairfax and wife Libby, with Jocellin Janssen from Royal Agricultural Society Foundation, took 6 hours to drive and judge the 44 new sculptures; they were blessed with fine weather on Saturday morning which made viewing the paddock art easier and more accessible to judge each piece.

The winners were announced at 7pm to a very crowded community centre at Cumnock, that flowed out into the side tent and onto the footpath.

Everyone enjoyed viewing the 44 photographic canvases, the school art display and the SheArt shelias from Molong, Cumnock and Yeoval “Animals and Bikes” art exhibition.

Past Rural Achiever and Miss Cumnock showgirl, Rebecca Staines the recipient of the RASF $25,000 grant to improve the community project of “Animals on Bikes” was ecstatic with the results and entries from the surrounding towns. 

“Without this generous assistance from the RASF the 10 show societies and 8 schools would not have participated in the sculpture competition so it has really enhanced the community spirit and will provide great tourism economic benefit for our surrounding rural reliant towns” said Bec.

The winners are as follows with first winning $1,000 and second winning $200 each;

Best Farm Animal on a Bike was presented by Jocellin Janssen (RASF Executive officer)

FIRST “Hot rod Henny” by Andrew and Rhonda Watt

SECOND “The Rabbits”by Laurelle Neville, Les and Elaine Hunter

Best Zoo Animal on a Bike presented by Mayor of Dubbo Matthew Dickerson

FIRST  ”Emus on the Run” by Stewart ‘Benny’ Caldwell

SECOND “Monotreme on Monocycle” by David and Alison Trowbridge of Platypus Hollow B&B

Best Local Endangered or Threatened Species on a Bike presented by Darryl Hodges from Little River Landcare group.

FIRST  ”The Powerful Owl” by Robert Armstrong

SECOND “Hungry Perchy” by Cumnock Public School

Best sculpture made by a Community Group presented by Liz Davis Central Western Catchment Management Authority

FIRST  ”Look No Hands” Fish on a Bike by Yeoval Central School P&C

SECOND “Elvis the Kookaburra” by Parkes Shire Council

Best Farmer or Farmer's wife sculpture presented by Cabonne Mayor Bob Dowling

FIRST “Didyouthinkhesawus?” by Dean Butler

SECOND “Long neck Turtle” by Don Bruce

Best letter/ mailbox Animal on a Bike presented by Brooke Lees from Rio Tinto

FIRST ”Hells Hogs” by Mannie Bone

SECOND “The Pleasant Pheasant” by Ashley Paul Horry


Best Sculpture made by a School Group (each initially received $500 from RASF) presented by Louise van Twist from Newcrest

FIRST “Slippery Penguins” by St Josephs school Molong

SECOND “Rocky , Put that Down!” by Molong Central School

Best Sculpture made by a Show Society (each initially received $1,000 from RASF presented by Parkes Mayor Ken Keith

FIRST “Off to the Cumnock Show” by David Weston, Cumnock Show Society

SECOND “Winners are Grinners” by Wellington Show Society

Most humorous sculpture presented by Federal member John Cobb

FIRST “Roadrunner and Coyote” by Andrew McKenzie

SECOND “Rosie the Redback” by Mal Williams and Graeme Fleming

The $200 PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD was very close with “Hotrod Henny” winning by just one vote over “Roadrunner and Coyote”, with the very large dinosaur coming in as third favourite. Dean Butler took 2 years to finish his large tyre-constructed dinosaur, he was asked how he felt afterwards  “It was tyresome work. It took me a long time but it was a Good year. I took it to the Maxxis!”

A great night had by all, with each person receiving the NEW wrapping paper with many of the new sculptures on it, plus each of the 44 sculptors receiving a family pass to the Dubbo Taronga Zoo.

The People’s Choice “Hotrod Henny” winner and other winning pictures can be viewed at http://www.animalsonbikes.com.au/2011-winners.html

Please request individual photos from Christine on mb 0411 208 240 or info@animalsonbikes.com.au

John Fairfax AO, the Chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society Foundation (RASF) and former Director of Fairfax Media and Past Chairman of Rural Press , Australia’s largest publishers of regional and agricultural news and information has accepted the invitation to judge and attend the Animals on Bikes presentation night on Saturday 26th November 2011.

Local Rural Achiever and ex-Miss Cumnock Showgirl, Rebecca Staines won $25,000 for the community’s project from RASF to help strengthen and improve the new tourist trail initiative stretching 120km from Molong to the Dubbo Zoo, via Cumnock and Yeoval.

Eight show societies were offered $1,000 for materials to build an “Animal on a bike” sculpture to promote their local show and their farming community town; while 10 local schools received $500 each in order to produce a sculpture that represented their community.

Many farmers are keeping their designs and masterpieces secret until judgment day, however it has been revealed that the Wellington Show society has created a ‘Horse in Wellington Boots on a bike’ and the Parke’s Show society is representing Elvis, the Dish and the Parke’s Boars team in their masterpiece.

Although the Animals on Bikes project commenced in 2009, the generous $25,000 RASF grant Rebecca received will assist with the second phase of the initiative that will take the number of sculptures on permanent display from 40 to 100.  This growth will promote the entire area across 6 local council areas and many small villages.

The Animal on Bikes project addresses some of the varied challenges faced by small country towns including; declining population, unemployment, struggling rural businesses as a result of drought and traffic that bypasses on major highways and lack of tourist attractions to draw visitors.

“We believe the number of tourists, especially caravanning couples has increased since the word has been out about the Animals on Bikes tourist drive. We have seen many tourists come through our doors especially on weekends which has helped to increase trade for us in what has been a relatively tough time for local businesses in general” (Gail Curtis , Gift & Homeware House Yeoval).

“The morale of the farming families involved in the project has visibly lifted. It seemed to strengthen the community spirit of all of the towns involved” (Amanda Murdoch, “Tindoo”, Molong).

The judging and presentation night for “Animals on Bikes” sculpture competition is Saturday 26th November 6-9pm at the Cumnock Crossroads building with a wine tasting and photographic exhibition of all new sculptures.

We welcome Mr John Fairfax AO, his wife Libby and Jocellin Jansson (RASF Executive Officer and originally from Narrabri) to the Central West and wait in anticipation for their announcement of the sculpture winners next month.  For more information and to enter go to www.animalsonbikes.com.au

Media Contacts;
Rebecca Staines Ph.  (02) 6367 7213     Mob:  0427 677213 rebeccastaines@agnvet.com.au
Christine Weston Ph. (02) 63677010 Mob 0411 208240 info@animalsonbikes.com.au    
Jocellin Jansson – RASF - Mob 0429 365841 jjansson@rasnsw.com.au