GrainCorp Silos at Serviceton - Victoria

Artist: Jack Fran

Location: Viewing is from the Serviceton Historic Railway Station, located of Elizabeth Street, Serviceton, Vic

At the historic Serviceton Railway Station, a striking new silo mural brings a defining moment in Australia’s past vividly to life. Completed in November by artist Jack Fran, the artwork spans the curved face of the old silo, depicting two figures divided by a bold white border line. On the left, a weathered South Australian farmer stands with hands on his hips, eyeing the man across from him. On the right, a Victorian surveyor peers through his tripod, carefully plotting a line that would spark decades of dispute.

The mural honours the origins of the South Australian–Victorian border error of 1847, when surveyors mistakenly marked the boundary several kilometres west of the true 141st meridian. The oversight created a long strip of “in-between” land, and Serviceton found itself planted squarely in the middle of it.

When the interstate railway arrived in the 1880s, the uncertainty was so great that the impressive station beside the silo had to operate for both colonies, with duplicated offices, shared staff, and locomotives changing over at its platforms.

Fran’s mural now stands as both a tribute and a teaching moment—an evocative reminder of how one misplaced survey line helped shape a town, a railway, and the shared history of two states.