I have been inspired by a page of pictures of iconic images published in yesterday's News.
The Mooving Art Cows, the little Furphy statue, the William Cooper statue - all these would be in the running as summing up Shepparton.
Then I remembered a few years ago being dumbfounded when a clock on the Telstra Tower stopped and left the whole city frozen in time - a bit like now.
When they finally fixed the missing little hand on the Telstra Tower clock I was able to pick the kids up from school at 3.30 in the afternoon instead of 8.45 at night.
Well, that was my excuse anyway.
I now realise the tower is undoubtedly an icon of our rather bland urban landscape, even if it does look like the result of a child, a Meccano set and a rainy afternoon.
It neatly sums up Shepparton in the sense that it’s only purpose is to act as a conduit of information and business.
It’s got a utilitarian feel. There’s nothing abstract or poetic about it. It’s a tower for transmitting phone signals, for goodness sake. It’s not a piece of Dada sculpture or a restaurant.
As much as we like to spruik our tourism potential, Shepparton is still an agribusiness service town and not a limp-wristed health spa like Daylesford. We don’t do back rubs with a feng shui view, we do real estate and milk.
The tower may look a bit ugly – but hey, that’s progress. We didn’t need that pompous old federation post office did we? That said absolutely nothing about Shepparton. Look at the building that replaced it. Functional straight lines and plain down-to-earth brown brick with no fancy schmancy stuff on it.
That says Shepparton to me.
The tower was the first thing I noticed when I arrived from Melbourne 28 years ago. I saw it in the distance, pointing skywards like an ungloved robot finger announcing the way forward.
I thought, WOW – now that’s progressive.
Since then, I’ve grown to appreciate it’s unpretentious presence.
Other contenders for Shepparton's icon are:
The war memorial: Very emotive, but nothing unique here - every country town has one.
Victoria Park Lake: Lots of potential, but no waterfront pub and not enough dog poo bins.
Mooving Art cows: I like the cows. They’re happy. They say good things about us, but maybe not progress and sophistication. I reckon they’re a bit too Daylesford.
The new SAM: Looks like a dull Lego set at the moment. We'll wait and see.
The new law courts: Functional, contemporary, powerful - but grim. Very grim. And brown.
Goulburn River: Very nice, but just too damn old. And it’s very slow. And muddy. Nothing progressive there at all.
SPC/Ardmona: On the surface, a wonderful symbol of progress. But dig a bit deeper and it’s all based on that tired old stuff called baked beans and fruit. That’s just so last week.
Nope, it still has to be the tower. Just paint it red.
And put a Stay the Duck at Home sign on it.
Gotta go, time for an iconic Zoom meeting.
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