The Musical Fence

in Winton, outback Australia

HISTORY and OPENING CONCERT, 2003

The Fence was commissioned by the Queensland Music Festival (QMF) and Winton Shire Council (WSC). Designed by Graeme, built in 2003 by the council, the townsfolk and Graeme. Additional junk'n'found elements added in 2005 and 2010.

Graeme trained over 100 locals to play in front of a crowd of nearly 1000 for the opening event in 2003 (Winton population = 800)
The 2005 QMF dawn opening took place at the Fence. The Fence Band played GL's 'Funky Fence' to a huge crowd, alongside Shakuhachi master Riley Lee, Strike Percussion (NZ) and Hsao (Africa).

first site visit with QMF director Lyndon Terracini and WSC assistant CEO George Frangos, 2002

DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT

The Fence is a standard wire fence with added acoustic resonators that amplify any sound in the wires, caused either by striking or by wind action
Graeme developed and tested a prototype shelter/resonator, then built a scale model of the proposed installation
The model was installed in the Shire Hall for community consideration in early 2003. 
"The word in town was that I must be mad because I was telling everyone that I was going to make a fence that would sing" (GL)

CONSTRUCTION

THE PLAQUE READS..
"Winton's Musical Fence was commissioned in July 2003 by the Queensland Music Festival with the Winton Shire Council and the generous support of Ergon Energy. It was created by artist Graeme Leak with assistance from the Winton Community.
Landscape Design: Andrew Saniga
Design Consultants: David Murphy and Michael Gyucha
Construction: Brendan Wright, Brett Webber, Winton Cadets 145RCU and Graeme Leak
Landscaping and Site Works: Winton Shire Council
Fence Posts and Wiring: Chris Beetson"

GOTYE and the FENCE

Several years before his meteoric rise to multi-grammy award fame, Melbourne artist GOTYE (Wally de Backer) came across the Musical Fence while on tour. He recorded and sampled its sound and used it as a bass line in the track 'Eyes Wide Open'.

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VIDEO: 40 second edit of 'The Making of Eyes Wide Open' 
>> see unedited video on YouTube
>> read article by Graeme Leak 
for the Winton Herald, February 2013

THE BUSH DRUM KIT 2005

The BUSH DRUM KIT was designed and built by David Murphy with Graeme Leak, with nearly all elements of the kit sourced from the local tip. The kit was welded in the Stockroutes Shed of WSC. Graeme and David planted it in concrete on 14 Jun 05. Visitors arrived soon after and started playing it!

Featured Video

Cole Porter's 1934 classic cowboy song performed on the Musical Fence in Winton, Queensland, outback Australia. The Fence is available 24/7 for the public to play and is free entry. Buses and carloads of travellers and locals visit the site daily.

YouTube videos at the Fence

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