ART is depicting the story of a historic route, KIM WOODS reports

The heat haze shimmers on the bitumen snaking off into the distance.

Salt, cotton and bluebushes dot the landscape, the scene occasionally broken by a bore and stock trough.

This is saltbush country or, colloquially, the Long Paddock - rated as one of the flattest places in the southern hemisphere.

Stretching from Moama to Wilcannia in southwestern NSW, the route was recognised as early as the 1840s, for moving stock from Queensland to Victorian markets.

The Long Paddock is now a designated tourist route and passes through the shires of Murray, Deniliquin, Conargo, Hay and Central Darling.

Overlanders, bullockies, drovers, pastoralists, shearers and pioneer settlers all figure in the living history of the Long Paddock.

Stories of headless horseman, Cobb and Co coaches, backblock characters and a waterless swamp abound along the route.

Covering 610km, the Long Paddock was once a web of tracks and trails that linked the stock-breeding areas of the inland with the growing markets in the south.

At the time, the network covered an estimated 2.27 million hectares, or 2.8 per cent of the state.

In 1862, Deniliquin's Pastoral Times reported the back country was being converted from "useless wilderness into some of the finest sheep runs in Australia".

Today, the history and stories have been captured in sculptures and interpretative panels along the Long Paddock route.

"This is a good outback experience, where you don't need a four-wheel-drive or to carry extra water," Booligal farmer Alison McLean says.

As project manager for the Long Paddock, Alison has overseen the installation of $240,000 worth of roadside sculptures by five Australian artists.

She says the artists were given a brief to create bullet and stock-proof artworks.

"It was a bit bizarre, but we needed to be practical," she says.

"The end result surpassed all expectations - it was just fantastic."

Corey Thomas created a sculpture titled The River Crossing, which was erected at the Mathoura Visitor Information Centre.

Jonathon Leahey's sculpture, called Shod, honours the teamsters and bullock drivers, and is displayed at the Peppin Heritage Centre, Deniliquin.

Cobbs Wheels, Murrumbidgee Landscapes and Langs Crossing, by artist John Wooller, can be found at Bushy Bend, Hay.

Wayne Strickland's History of the Darling Shire completes the series and can be seen at Colombus St, Ivanhoe.

The most striking sculpture is laser-cut steel figures mounted on red gum posts, and set at Black Swamp, between Wanganella and Booroorban.

Called the Headless Horseman, the work was sculpted by Castlemaine artist Geoff Hocking and unveiled last November.

Inspired by local folklore, the figures represent two drovers and dogs chasing a mob of cattle rushed by the headless horseman.

A drover named Doyle died at Black Swamp in the 1850s, and his ghost allegedly appeared as a headless horseman.

Overlanders dreaded camping at the swamp, believing the sight of the apparition spelt their doom.

The legend was perpetuated by a Moulamein butcher who, dressed as the headless ghost, would spook drover's mobs and siphon off cattle to trade through his shop.

Alison says the Long Paddock communities all contributed ideas for the art works.

She says each artist researched the history associated with their work.

"Visitors don't expect artworks of this calibre out here," she says.

"At the unveiling of the Headless Horseman we had a mob of 400 cattle at the site.

"So many cars pulled up, as people were just amazed at this magnificent artwork on a featureless plain."

Alison says the Long Paddock is a comfortable run from Melbourne, hooking up with the Kidman Way and Darling River Run in an easy driving loop.

"Rather than just promoting our towns, we are promoting a whole destination," she says.

"The Long Paddock crosses the five rivers of Murray, Edward, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan and Darling, resulting in some great fishing spots.

"It is still a working stock route, so drovers can be seen both sides of Hay."

Future plans include landscaping the sites with drought-tolerant plants and installing solar-powered lighting.

Alison says towns along the route have been hit hard by the drought, loss of the red-gum milling industry and a subdued rice industry.

"These days the flow on The Long Paddock is tourists and not cattle, but they are equally important to our survival."