Coonamble-based artist Brian Campbell has finished possibly his most ambitious wire sculpture yet paying homage to the great Australian explorer, Charles Sturt.

The piece will feature as the finale at the end of the "Sturt's Steps" touring route in far western NSW, and depicts Sturt walking alongside his trusty horse.

Brian wanted to create emotion in the piece and show the viewer how Sturt and his horse felt on their arduous journey.

"I wanted to create an image of what it was like on their journey," he said. "I tried to make the horse look a little scrawny and tired, he's got his head low, ears up and he's just looking straight ahead."

"I like for the art to tell a story, and it's an amazing story - the man carted a boat all the way out there on a bullock wagon looking for the inland sea!"

Born in 1795, Sturt was a pioneering explorer of Eastern Australia, venturing out to explore the Murrumbidgee and Macquarie river systems, later discovering the Murray and Darling rivers on his travels.

Sturt's exploration of the western flowing rivers led him to believe of a great inland sea towards the centre of Australia.

And in 1844 that obsessive fascination with the sea led Sturt to set off on an exploration into the outback to find it, however, like Lasseter's reef of gold, it was never found.

These days Sturt is remembered for his resolve and determination, which is now immortalised in Brian Campbell's sculpture of Sturt walking through the outback searching endlessly for that fabled sea.

ABOVE: Closeup of the Charles Sturt wire sculpture

"There are some towns out there now, but if you think of what it was like to be walking out there exploring that landscape when he did, the guts to do it is unbelievable," said Brian.

"And I didn’t want him on the horse, its more about that respect between Sturt and his mode of transport."

And while the piece in its entirety is a marvel to look at, it’s the finer details that truly bring it to life.

"I modelled him off the statue in Adelaide, tried to get it as close as possible," said Brian

"I wanted people to look at it and go, it's him, not just any old bloke."

Brian didn't want Charles Sturt to "look like just any old bloke".

Brian has been making wire sculptures since 2018, with other works including a three-metre-tall bandicoot, the bulls situated along the highway in Gulargambone, and flying pigs that can be seen in Gilgandra.

"It's a medium that you can't really teach, there's no tools, just your hands."

Brian uses ordinary wire netting, stretched, tied and moulded by hand "with no gloves - you can't feel what you're doing with gloves on".

The piece did come with its challenges, however, such as the work involved in creating accurate clothing.

"He's got a body underneath, and then the shirt is sitting on top of it," said Brian.

"The clothes are an added challenge because you’ve got to figure out how a shirt would flow naturally and then create that with wire."

The sculpture comprises of different materials as well.

"The saddle cloth, his stick, the stirrups, and the belt are all made out of a different gauge wire."

"And the horse's mane and tail are made out of a steel rope that we split twice over, the eyes are old doorknobs."

And like all artists, the job is never truly done says Brian.

"Before it heads out I might put a bit more in his hair, to make it look more like the hair that all the old Englishmen had."

"I won't stop thinking about this one until we get it in the trailer and drive up to Milparinka."

The statue now heads off to Milparinka to feature in the Sturt's Steps tourist route in far western NSW.

The caravan park at Milparinka. PHOTO SUPPLIED.

Walking in the Steps of Sturt

"He'll stand near Evelyn Creek, which runs out of the hills near the town of Milparinka and off Preservation Creek where Sturt and his party camped for six months," said chair of Milparinka Heritage and Tourism Association and Sturt Step's instigator, Ruth Sandow.

"We're delighted to think Brian's artwork is one of the last pieces to go into developing our project. It will be a lovely end to the story about Sturt and here we'll have the man himself."

The Sturt's Steps tourism route runs from Broken Hill in the south up through the unincorporated far west to Cameron's Corner in the north.

What the small community of Milparinka (nine permanent residents) and their supporters have created over the past twenty or so years is quite remarkable.

They have rebuilt almost derelict historic buildings and constructed new buildings that house no less than twenty different interpretive spaces featuring Aboriginal history, star watch, and Sturt's expedition.

A miniature of the bullock wagon carrying Sturt's boat is on display in the museum at Milparinka. PHOTO SUPPLIED.

They have set up a caravan park and other amenities and the entire precinct is manned by a crew of volunteers from far flung places who work at Milparinka for two weeks on a rotating roster.

And after seeing the animal sculptures and reviewing his body of work elsewhere, the group engaged Brian to create a wire sculpture of Sturt and his horse.

It has been 12 months since he started on the project and Sturt and his horse have been constant companions apart from "eight weeks I had out with a broken finger" caused by Brian breaking up a fight between his dogs.

Brian now heads off on the thirteen-hour journey from into the outback, where Brian, Sturt and his horse will arrive at Milparinka via Broken Hill to drop off one of the finishing pieces on Sturts Steps.

Never one to take a break, Brian is already planning to get stuck into his next piece; a sculpture of an over-sized bilby to go out the front of the science building at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.