Community
28 January, 2026
Sculptures on display
SCULPTURES featuring art from members of the community are now on display in Jaycees Park in Simpson after months of coordination from the Simpson and District Community Centre.
A koala and kangaroo have joined the cow couch sculptures, affectionately coined ‘cowches’, thanks to funding from the Tiny Towns grant.
Simpson and District Community Centre coordinator Debbie Smith said the idea behind the art on the Australian animal sculptures was inspired by connection to community.
“I had the idea to invite people to paint the sculptures and make them into a local patchwork of what they love about the community or what brought them to the community and that generates a bit more ownership by the community of this space,” she said.
“It also leaves a permanent part of their story in this park.
“The koala we ended up taking over to the kindergarten and all the kinder kids from last year have put their hand print on it and they’ve got a bit of a story in the park now too.
“All the school kids put their handprints on the mural when it was done so the next generation have got a little bit of ownership in the park now.”
Mrs Smith said after the mural in the park was painted, many people mentioned to her it would be a good idea to have something cow-related in the park, which led to the cow couches and subsequently the Australian animal sculptures.
“When we did the mural, a few people said we should’ve had cows because Simpson is such a prominent dairy area,” she said.
“So then I was looking around at what cow things we could have and I found the cowches through Natureworks in Queensland.
“The Tiny Towns funding opportunity opened and I thought it would be really great because we really needed stuff in the park to try and get people to stop as they were going past.
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“We have thousands of cars go past and if we can get a percentage of those to stop and maybe spend some time in Simpson and maybe spend a dollar it’s got to be good for the town.
“I got a quote for what the cowches would cost and I thought we could get two of those and maybe a kangaroo and koala sculpture as well.”
Local Indigenous artist Emma Koplick, who painted the mural in the park, was also responsible for painting the base layers of the koala and kangaroo.
“I wanted to put an Aboriginal input in it because obviously I did the mural and there was an Aboriginal input in that,” she said.
“The original plan with the kangaroo was to put paw prints all through the black line, but the way I’ve done it it doesn’t need it because of the contributions from the community.
“The koala with the handprints from the children, I’ve got lines going through each handprint so it’s a connection to the community.
“I did do Aboriginal dot works on the kangaroo but the koala does have more of an Aboriginal input than the kangaroo.”
With the mural featuring handprints from previous school students, Mrs Smith said the sculptures tied two generations together in the community.
The sculptures were also made possible thanks to an in-kind contribution from Corangamite Shire Council, who assisted with the concrete base of the sculptures and installation.
The sculptures can be found on either side of Jaycees Park in Simpson and people are encouraged to stop and take photos with them when passing through.
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