On Monday, teachers Troy Jones, Alice Dorman and five excited students from years 7, 8 and 9, flew to Sydney for judgement day, the day their “John Bull” was pitted up against entries that made the finals from 14 other schools nationwide.

Trangie Central School was named as the winner of Champion Archibull Prize in Program B and came in second place overall, pipped at the post by just one point by Shoalhaven High School.

“John Bull” was given the highest awarded artwork score in the history of the competition and the school also won the Secondary BLOG category, in both the cotton section and overall.

Principal of the school, Anne Holden, is thrilled to say the least.

“I am so proud of them all, this just shows you that you don’t have to be a big school, you just need to have committed teachers and great kids and a great school,” Mrs Holden said.

“The community really got behind this project and it has been a wonderful example of what it is like to live in a town like this.”

The Archibull Prize is a ‘no bull’ art and design challenge and is an Art4Agriculture initiative which focuses on farmers and the community working together for a sustainable future.

The challenge was to create an artwork on a fibreglass cow which reflected an allocated food or fibre industry.

“We were the only school in the Macquarie Valley to have taken part in the Archibull Prize so our focus was on the cotton industry,” Miss Dorman said.

“What we had to do was create an artwork on the cow that represented the theme of how we have to feed and sustainably clothe our community for a day - within that we had to showcase cotton.”

Mr Jones said a large number of hours were involved in transforming the fibreglass cow into the work of art, “John Bull.”

“About 150 hours was spent on the actual cow,” Mr Jones said.

“On top of that we went on excursions to learn more about the cotton industry, and spent around two hours a week on a blog about the process; this project started at the end of May so a lot of work went into it and it is wonderful to see what the students have achieved.”

After a lot of brainstorming in the initial stages as to ‘what to do’ with the blank canvas, the final theme of technology was chosen by the students who all agreed they had a fantastic time working on the project.

The end product saw the fibreglass Archibull transformed into a John Deere 7760 Cotton Picker hence the cow was renamed “John Bull”.

John Bull, equipped with an iPad and LED lights, is an interactive artwork with many components that the audience can move to discover and learn about the importance of the cotton industry. 

The artwork produced by Trangie Central School is nothing short of spectacular and all involved should be congratulated. There is no doubt they met the aim of the Archibull Prize, which was to bring the next generation of consumers and rural producers together to tell agriculture’s story and generate two-way conversations through art and multi-media. 

The students and staff from Trangie Central School would like to say a big thank you to Bev and Col Hamilton - Macquarie 2100, Scooter and Pete - Rebel AG, Rob Tuck, Stu and Fran Crawford, Sally and Tony Quigley of Quigley Farms, Richie Quigley, Chesterfield Australia Warren and Dubbo branches, Sally and Rod St Clair - AgPro, Juli Wise - Cotton Australia Regional Manager Macquarie Valley, Auscott Ltd - Chris Hogendyke and Auscott Trangie - Cathy, Rob and staff, Namoi Cotton, Macquarie Cotton Growers Association - Claire, Rodney and Sandra Carr - Countrywide Industries, Ken Hilder Transport, Brett Cumberland - Riverpoint Enterprises, Ashe Nielsen, Bill and Lucy Ferguson, David and Alexandra Ramsay, Agriland, the Gale family, Jaye Milgate, the Barclay family, the Seymour family, the Rae family, the McKinnon family especially David, Anne Barwick, Ms Fisher and the TCS metal work boys, Trangie staff, community members, businesses and parents that donated materials and resources, all community members that have shown support and interest in the project and have followed the blog, as well as numerous anonymous donators. A big thankyou to all the students involved in the Archibull Prize and an even bigger thankyou to Mr Troy Jones and Miss Ali Dorman for grabbing the bull by its horns and steering towards success.