The Living Desert Sculpture Symposium Walk - December 2020

Horse - Jumber Jikiya.

Bel El Jaguar (Under the Jaguar Sun) - Antonio Nava Tirado.

If you are fan of nature and art then The Living Desert Sculpture Symposium Walk up at Broken Hill is a must do I think. We've been up here before a long time ago (there's an old photo on the blog somewhere that I'll link), however with Sam and I in town over Christmas this year we decided to head back and re-visit it. The go here is to visit at sunset if possible I think, so we motored out to the park around an hour before sunset to climb the hill. Now back when we first visited vehicle access to the sculptures was only really for people with mobility issues however it looks like most people drive the top now, there was only one other party doing the walk up and when we arrived at the top there were at least a dozen vehicles that had driven up.

There is a nice picnic area at the bottom car park.

I really think that the optimum time for a visit here is in the late afternoon.

Now you could drive up but really unless you are super un-fit then I'd recommend walking up, the track is sealed for the most part and in the late afternoon light the desert looks stunning. Our first stop on our climb was just after leaving the car park, there is a short side trip to see some aboriginal engravings near a small rock pool of water. Now to be honest I think I identified the engravings, although with no signage to help and a fairly untrained eye it was a little hard to tell. Actually it's strange that there is no information at this spot as everywhere else in the Living Desert State Park is superbly well signposted with information at all the points of interest.

We took the short side track to check out the aboriginal engravings near this small waterhole.

I think that these might be the engravings - although I'm far from expert!

Back on the main track we climbed this easy sealed path up to the sculptures.

It was a slow climb as I was stopping frequently to take photos.

Back on the main track we crossed a bridge and soon started climbing the track up to the sculptures. While the climb is steady there are lots of things to stop and check out so we never really struggled. Climbing higher the sculptures standing own the hill above started to become more prominent, the sound of voices wafting down on the pleasant late afternoon breeze signalling to us that we weren't going to be alone up there. 

Mother Nature had her own sculptures on show as we climbed.

The car park is in the valley on the left of the photo.

A bit more of Mother Natures work.

We started to get some glimpses across to the Stephens Creek Reservoir.

We've arrived on top. This is Facing the Day and the Night - Eduardo Nasta Luna.

Now we knew that people would of driven up the hill but we were still slightly surprised by the amount of vehicles up here. After passing through the car park we wandered up to check out the 12 or so sculptures that crown the hill. Our visit tonight only reinforced my opinion that sunset is the time for a visit, as not only does the low sun (and long shadows) add some nice contrast to the Menindee Sandstone that the sculptures are created from, however watching the sun drop below the dry hills to the west is also a special sight as well. The sculptures here were carved from 53 tonnes Sandstone back in 1993 with installations from various artists that came here from around the world.

Thomasina (Jillarruwi - the Ibis) - Thomas Munkanome.

Motherhood - Badri Salushia.

The Bride - Dr Mahomad Mira.

Facing the Day and the Night - Eduardo Nasta Luna.

Habitat - Dr Ahmad Al Ahmad.

Angels of the Sun and the Moon - Valerian Jikiya.

A Present for Fred Hollows in the Afterlife - Lawrence Beck.

Late afternoon is an amazing time of the day up here.

With the sun now below the western horizon Sam and I figured that we'd better start shuffling our way back down to the ute, the gates to the park are locked at 9:30 pm each night and I wasn't super keen on spending the night out here! If anything our descent was slower than our climb as I stopped to take numerous photos as the desert colours really started to pop in the bewitching hour. By the time we climbed back into the ute and set off back to Broken Hill it was pretty well dark tonight.

Nhatji (Rainbow Serpent) - Badger Bates.

Tiwi Totems - Gordon Pupangamirri, with the Stephans Creek Reservoir in the distance.

Horse Jumber Jikiya.

Looks like that's pretty well the end of the sun for today.

Sunset from the Living Desert State Park.

That's Broken Hill in the distance.

The Living Desert State Park - Broken Hill in the distance.

It was a slow walk back down.

The Barrier Range.

Dusk at the Living Desert State Park.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS we walked around 2.9 kilometres and climbed about 69 metres on this easy walk. Like I've mentioned it looks like most people drive up to the top now, although they miss out on some very nice desert scenery if they do. The walking track is sealed for the most part and has plenty of places of interest to stop and check out as well as a couple of benches to rest on. There is a $6 dollar entry fee (Dec, 2020) that gains access to the sculptures as well as the John Simons Flora & Fauna Sanctuary walks. We used the map from the brochure which we picked up at the pay station on the way in, along with my GPS topos this afternoon.

Relevant Posts.

Our first visit here back in 1999.

Living Desert State Park.

The camera is a little deceptive here - by now it was pretty well dark.

Sam's making a mile for the ute!

Arriving back at the ute just as the last light of the day slipped away.