Move over Big Banana, Euroa’s giant magpie is capturing Aussie hearts!

It was a real win for public art in Euroa as the giant Tank and Tobin Magpie Sculpture was unveiled to the public last week.

The community turned out in droves to get a glimpse of the the huge 3.5m tall magpie on Friday evening last week with an official celebration followed by a community event.

Strathbogie Shire Council Mayor Cr Laura Binks ran the official proceedings with speeches from Steph Swift from the Euroa Chamber of Business and Commerce, Laura Baker from Euroa Community Action Group, and artists Tank and Tobin.

“It was a fantastic event, filled with laughter and community spirit,” Cr Binks said.

“We are so excited to have unveiled the magpie now and we know it has already captured attention from far and wide since.

“Over the weekend it was lovely to see families and visitors dropping by to take their photo with the sculpture.”

Mayor Binks said the long-awaited installation of the magpie sculpture was just the first step in Council’s delivery of public art.

“This is something we want to see more and more of; Council adopted its Public Art Policy to ensure projects like this could happen after we heard loud and clear from our community that they wanted more public art,” she said.

The project was initiated by a joint submission by the Chamber and the Euroa Community Action group to Council’s Pitch My Project initiative in the 2022/23 Budget.

Cr Binks said it represented a wonderful story of a community led project, that the Council embraced.

“It’s fantastic to see what we can achieve by working together,” she said.