Swoop – The Big Barrwarrang

Using the language name alongside the nickname is a small but meaningful decision. Barrwarrang is the word for the bird in the language of the people whose country this is, and putting it in the artwork's title rather than in a plaque beneath makes it the object's actual name rather than a translation appended to it.

The magpie earns the treatment. It is among the most familiar and most complicated birds in Australia – an accomplished singer with one of the most elaborate vocal repertoires of any species, genuinely intelligent, capable of recognising individual human faces over years, and responsible for the spring swooping that makes it briefly the most feared animal in the suburbs.

Tank and Tobin also made the giant king parrot installed at Eildon in 2026, so the pair have now produced two significant Victorian bird sculptures within three years.

Seven Creeks Park runs along the creek through the middle of Euroa, a Hume Highway town in the Strathbogie Ranges country of north-east Victoria, and it is the town's main green space.

Australia's other notable magpies are Big Swoop in Canberra's Petrie Plaza and Owe'e in his nest at Miriam Vale.