School Twenty Six of the Epic 2013 Archibull Prize judging road trip saw Wendy and Lynne visit Trangie via Dubbo for the first time
Trangie Central School’s “John Bull” is a MACHINE! Lights, sounds and action! He is a very clever cow who can teach you a lot about the cotton picker and its processes. He is the King of the Paddock!”
John Bull (like his namesake John Deere) is integral to the cotton industry, and focuses in particular on the technical aspects of the industry. He is based on the revolutionary John Deere 7760, which is the most advanced cotton picker available. His paint is even authentic John Deere paint! Very authentic!
He uses actual yellow cotton picker ‘boots’ at the front to pick the cotton and to discard the trash. The circuitry on his sides represents the technology and microchips that help machinery such as this to run. The iPad embedded in his side adds to this and tells even more stories about cotton.
Cotton is caught at the front, picked and sorted as it moves through the cow, to emerge briefly on its way to the catcher where bales are formed. The bales are held, and then dropped at the end of the row.
Movers and Shakers in Cotton
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In this case, the cotton bales are very unique and show the process from a mini raw cotton bale, to refined and then to one made from cotton products. This bale also shows logos of local cotton groups and producers, as well as sample pouches of the stages of cotton production and the by-products.
All that is left to tell of the cotton story from Trangie is the postcode of where John Bull was made and where he lives – 2823 written proudly on his side!