Sculptor Col Henry met with the locals to see what they were looking for in an art piece.

“We talked about a lot of things. Some wanted seats, others wanted a fountain,” Henry said. 

“We agreed Mount Noorat was the landmark of the place and that it looked superb.”

A one-liner from district resident Eve Black helped tie all the ideas into one solid concept.

“Eve actually said to me as a throwaway line that there was a tree on the mountain and for many years there had been an eagle’s nest,” Henry said. 

“I was flabbergasted. How significant is that?” 

After a visit to the local schools, the New South Wales-based sculptor came away with a list of what students thought was important to the area — family and community resonated most. 

“The eagle’s nest is a symbol of strength and the community spirit of this quiet little town got me. It’s unbelievably strong,” Henry said. 

Henry’s Eagle’s Nest concept was selected from a short-list of three by the public art committee in November. The 3.5-metre tall abstract sculpture features a twisting vertical tower with a nest on the top. 

At the foot of the tower is a “volcano seat”, replicating the crater of nearby Mount Noorat.  The proposed public art will be the centrepiece of Noorat’s community garden at the corner of Glenormiston and MacKinnons Bridge roads. 

Henry will now visit the Mount Noorat crater to view the actual nest before he completes the sculpture and it is installed and officially opened in mid-March. 

Ms Black said she loved the eagle’s nest concept. 

Ms Black’s late husband Niel was the great-grandson of pioneer pastoralist Niel Black, who settled Glenormiston in 1840. The Black family has farmed around Mount Noorat for four generations. 

“The actual nest is fabulous, they clean it out every season. When Niel and I drove around for the stock, we used to stop on the rim of the crater to look at the nest,” she said. 

Public art committee member Penny MacDonald said she saw the nest representing people who came back to Noorat to make a home or visit family. 

Henry said these alternate meanings were an important part of the project. “I want people driving through the town to look at it and think about something else,” he said.

“That’s what abstract art is about, different meanings to different people.”