A permanent, inland sculpture trail like no other. Sculpture Down the Lachlan (SDL) trail was the vision of Australian artist, Rosie Wingrove Johnston. A 100km sculpture trail between Forbes and Condobolin along the Lachlan River – a “bush version” of Sydney’s famous Sculpture by the Sea. Within months the community took hold of this concept whole heartedly.
The aim? To create an art trail of international recognition in order to generate tourism and diversify the rural economy.
And the name? Sculpture Down the Lachlan pays tribute to Banjo Paterson’s line about meeting Clancy of the Overflow “down the Lachlan”.
In 2014 the first sculpture was acquired for the SDL trail through the inaugural Sculpture Forbes competition – ‘Shadows on the Landing’ by Ingrid Morley was the first sculpture to be installed in the Forbes CBD. Since then, nine (9) other smaller sculptures have been added in town and around Lake Forbes, as well as the iconic ‘amazing’ sculpture along the stock route.
In 2019, the NSW Government pledged additional funding through the NSW Regional Growth – Tourism and Environment Fund to support the completion of the trail.
The Sculpture Down the Lachlan (SDL) complents the other large attractions in the Central West including Taronga Western Plains Zoo (Dubbo), The Dish – CSIRO Radio Telescope (Parkes), Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange, ‘Utes in the Paddock’ (Ootha) and the Eugowra murals.
The SDL extension is part of the $7.2 million ‘Boosting the Lachlan Valley Economy Art Project’ which is proudly funded by the NSW Government’s Restart NSW program through the Regional Growth, Environment and Tourism Development Fund, the Forbes Arts Society, Forbes Shire Council, Lachlan Shire Council and Evolution Mining.
Featuring over twenty sculptures by some of Australia’s leading creatives.
