Boy, 10, welds award-winning sculptures from scraps on remote SA station

For the average Australian, discarded farm parts might seem useless, but 10-year-old George Williams is giving them new life through welding. The boy lives with his parents and three siblings on an organic beef cattle station between Oodnadatta and William Creek, 650 kilometers northwest of Port Augusta.

As the youngest exhibiting artist at this year’s Brighton Jetty Sculptures exhibition in Adelaide, George says welding is a fun thing he can do while living in a remote area. “We can’t really do team sports,” George said. “I do some social sports, but that’s in Quorn, which is about 500km from here.” He also added, “If I wasn’t welding, I’d be riding motorbikes or playing cricket with my brothers.”

George says he taught himself to weld by watching his father work in the shed, and he designs “whatever I can think of,” such as windmills, snails, and dogs. “It’s just mucking around, welding things together and seeing how it looks, and if it doesn’t look good, I just hammer it off,” he said. Despite living on a remote station, George’s mother, Kirsty Williams, says welding is a great opportunity to be away from screens. “Because they do school of the air, they’re on laptops a lot of the day, so they’re not allowed screens after school,” Ms. Williams said. “But they’re kept very busy with mustering, helping their dad, looking after the animals, and all the things involved in station life.”

George won the People’s Choice Award at the Bungala Solar Sculpture Competition in Port Augusta last year, taking home a $2500 prize. “Once I knew I’d won, I thought, ‘I want to do that again’,” he said. “I bought a motorbike, and that paid for most of it.” For the upcoming exhibition, George has created an emu sculpture using old items found at the dump. “The body is made out of a gas bottle, and the legs are motorbike handlebars,” he said. “The tail is an old motorbike sprocket … and the eyebrows are old horseshoes.”

Brighton Jetty Sculptures chair Catherine Casey says the volunteer-run exhibition, which is also a fundraiser for the local surf lifesaving club, has received entries from 130 artists across South Australia this year, including 15 from remote areas. “We’ve always encouraged young artists to enter,” Ms. Casey said. “Our focus since last year has been to encourage more artists from remote areas … we’ve been contacting art galleries in remote areas. We’re here to promote all artists.”

While he hopes to win in the youth category, George says he doesn’t expect to become an artist in the future. “It’s just a hobby at the moment,” he said. “I’d rather be a mechanic when I grow up.” A panel of judges will assess all entries, with winners to be announced at the official opening on Thursday evening.