WHEN Madeleine Wearne and Ian Chivers had their first experience of Julia Street Creative Space’s annual TRAILS exhibition this year, they fell in love with a cardboard kangaroo.

This is not just any cardboard kangaroo, but one that truly commands respect. Regal, even. So, they bought it.

“I almost screamed when I saw it,” Ms Wearne said. “I don’t go looking for things to buy but when I see something, it’s ‘get out of my way’! And this really spoke to me. He’s so alive.”

How the couple found this new addition to their family was truly one of those sliding doors moments, and they almost missed him. Having just moved to Portland from Cudgewa, a remote village in north-east Victoria, they had literally just arrived in town when they heard about the launch of the 2024 TRAILS event.

Curator of Julia Street Creative Space Robyn McDonald said, “They arrived here at 3.30pm and said, ‘We were told there might be a function on here tonight’, which was at 5pm, so they raced off to change and came back!”

The couple are musicians who both claim not to have an artistic bone in their bodies. (Many may recognise Dr Chivers as the agronomist specialising in Australian native grasses who gave a talk here last year to like-minded naturalists.)

However, they do have a passion for art as well as a deep love of the environment which they have dedicated their lives to protecting. Purchasing Ballarat artist Patrick Duffy’s Anthropomorphis Australis is an extension of this.

“I found him outstanding,” said Dr Chivers of their latest acquisition.

Ms Wearne, who has a 400-acre conservation block full of “quite friendly big roos”, said, “I don’t like spending money on anything other than natural history, art, books and plants.

“And this (artwork) reminded me of one of the roos who would come down to the campsite when we were there.”

The couple were so impressed with the TRAILS exhibition that they’ve offered $1,000 towards a new category which they hope will encourage people to be more generous towards nature.

Titled ‘Response to environment’, the new category will provide an opportunity for artists to respond to any environmental issue using any material they choose, said Ms McDonald.

Ms Wearne said the couple moved here “because of the beaches, the forests, the Glenelg art, the Great South West Walk, and nature generally, so we are hoping (the new category) will help people to really think more about the environment”.

The environment has been “something to be crushed rather than trying to work with it (in my experience), but being an agronomist you get to (understand that) you can’t beat it so you might as well work in sympathy with it”, Dr Chivers said. “So we wanted to reinforce that.”

Ms Wearne and Dr Chivers have yet to pick the perfect spot at home for their new acquisition.

“We’re worried about our two puppies, so maybe at the top of the stairs on a plinth but definitely somewhere other people will see him,” Ms Wearne said.

“He’s not waterproof, so we’re wondering whether to put him in a non-reflective glass case. We have some lovely other artwork in his colours that he’d look good with.”

Wherever he goes, this regal cardboard kangaroo is bound to add to the sense of the Australian outback Ms Wearne and Dr Chivers have imbued in their home. And once he has a name, he will be complete.

The couple are offering a $50 prize for the best pet name for their distinguished kangaroo. Suggestions can be registered at Julia Street Creative Space where the sculpture is still on display, or emailed to juliastreetcreativespace@gmail.com before June 30.