Gateway signs ready for construction

Published on 23 May 2019

Fabrication of the city's new gateway signs will soon commence with the design now finalised.

A design competition for the signs was held in February, with Council accepting individual designs, and sets of five different designs.

'Our Economy' Key Direction Working Group Chair, Branko Licul, said the competition attracted 73 entries from all across Australia.

"There were a lot of great entries, although we didn't receive many entries offering five different designs," he said.

"We wanted a sign that was similar to the large steel signs at Silverton and Tibooburra, but we didn’t want to simply copy their style outright.

"After much deliberation the judging panel settled on an individual design by Melbourne-based graphic designer and artist Joe Scerri."

After the judging was complete, engagement was conducted with the local aboriginal community to further refine the design.

The sign features an acknowledgement of the land's traditional owners, recognition of the Broken Hill's status as Australia's first Heritage Listed City, and a silhouette of the pinnacles and surrounding outback. 

Councillor Licul said he was now looking forward to the signage project progressing.

"Mr Scerri's design features some indigenous art elements, and he wanted to run those by the local aboriginal community to ensure those elements were reflective of Wilyakali culture," said Cr Licul.

"That process took a little longer than we initially anticipated, but we're now at the point where we have a final design ready to go.

"Council's infrastructure team have also been doing a lot of work in the background to prepare for the construction phase, so we expect to move forward fairly quickly from this point."

The two-piece Corten steel signs will be 3 metres tall, 7.5 metres wide, and be placed on the five main road entrances to the city.

Each sign will also feature rear lighting to illuminate words and details.

Fabrication of the signs will commence next week, with project completion expected in the third quarter of 2019.