I was down at the Melbourne docklands just a couple of days ago, when I looked up and saw a giant cow in the tree!
I started counting exactly how many beers I had at lunch, then had a thought “urban art”. After doing a quick search in Google, I found the docklands homepage with this information:
This intriguing work has a water-based thematic connection to Melbourne Docklands. Many years ago, a violent flood swept up herds of cattle in the Gippsland area of Victoria before subsiding and revealing the carcass of a cow stranded at the top of a tree. At 5 tons of bronze and 8 metres high, Cow up a Tree creates a surreal experience.
The work also makes reference to Australian artist William Dobell who, during World War II, served as a camouflage labourer and worked on papier-mache cows that were moved around the base of airfields in the hope of fooling Japanese pilots. The artist contemplated what would happen during a flood on Dobell’s airfield.