A one hundred and twenty year old local landmark has recently been celebrated by children born over a century after it was built.

Cobar's local icon, the "Silver Tank", has been standing proudly since 1901, when the 33-foot-high steel water tank was erected about a mile outside of town.

In 2022, locals were witness to a long planned transformation from the now unused tank into the Cobar Sound Chapel. A permanent sound art installation, it is the creation of composer and sound artist Georges Lentz in collaboration with architect Glenn Murcutt. 

Cobar High School students recently sought out community members to share memories of the Silver Tank and the experiences they had growing up in the area.

"Initially we relied on word of mouth to come up with names of locals we could approach for an interview," Laura Andrew, Cobar High School music teacher said.

Ms Andrew, now in her fifth year at the school, said once the students had completed interviews with residents, their ideas grew to the point that the Cobar High School: Sounds & Stories project will be on exhibition at the Outback Arts Gallery in Coonamble from 1 May – 2 June 2023.

Completion of the project took the students through many stages, Ms Andrew said.

"In August last year, the school held a week long workshop with well-known composer, Elizabeth Jigalin, who generously came out for a residency to work with the kids. There were three components to the student's tasks including making musical sketches."

 Each storyteller brought their own unique and individual narrative, to the project with one common theme, the Silver Tank - a symbol highlighting the importance of community and connection.

"In the end six original compositions were interwoven with the stories," Ms Andrew said. "We even went around Cobar to original sounds to add to the authenticity."

Inspired by the shared stories and their own musical sketches, students composed and performed original works that evoke the mood of each story told by local community members. Students also created field recordings to be included in the sound installation, generating compelling sound effects to accompany the stories.

“The thing I liked the most was probably when we had to create our own theme song," said Cobar High School student, Amara Bottom.

Other students said they enjoyed learning about the history of the area and visiting the Sound Chapel itself. For many reasons, the successful project has clearly instilled pride in the students.

“I liked working together and putting all our ideas together,” student, Sosie Barton said. “I’m proud of us, because I never thought I would ever be able to make a song and we made three verses of a song in two days."

The students’ work has been arranged into an 18-minute sound installation that celebrates community, creativity and history through sound. After the exhibition is finished at Coonamble, their work sound installation will be played inside the Cobar Sound Chapel at a future music festival.