Diviner inspiration: Australian artist sizes up grain silos for huge 40m high murals

Painted depictions of a water diviner searching for groundwater by Australian artist Fintan Magee are seen on unused wheat silos in Barraba, Australia. Photo: Reuters

When Fintan Magee was asked to paint a mural on a trio of 40m high grain silos in the small Australian town of Barraba, he decided against an archetypal image of sheep and cattle.

Instead he painted a water diviner, a practice still used in parts of Australia where proponents believe they can find ground water with two metal rods or, as pictured in the mural, sticks.