General News
22 May, 2025
Turning scrap to sculpture
Glenorchy resident Matthew Fearon has taken the saying “another man's trash is another man's treasure” to a whole new level.
His artistic journey began in October 2017 after carving a crocodile out of a piece of wood with a chainsaw.
Soon after undergoing two knee replacements, Matthew turned to art during recovery.
“That's when I started to do this while I couldn't work.”
His first metal project came soon after, and from there, his creative spark took off.
“I've made between 350 and 400 items and that ranges in about 58 different things, from emus, kangaroos, koalas, snails, dogs, frogs and motorbikes.”
Despite insisting he’s never been any good at art, Matthew was inspired after hosting an open garden event.
“The only garden art we could get here was a bloke out the road made horseshoe balls and they started at 350 bucks and went up,” he explained.
“Then our friend in town, he made garden art for his own garden and put that on display, but there was nothing for sale.”
That’s when Matthew thought, “why don't I give it a go?”
With generous locals supporting his craft, Matthew often sources material from local farms.
“I have quite a few farmers that donate stuff or tell me to come out there and help myself in their scrap heaps,” he said.
His creativity seems boundless.
“Sometimes I can just look at a piece of metal and then my head comes a picture of what to turn it into. For an example, I was working for Dadswell Bridge Caravan Park and we found this piece of steel on the ground. I made a tractor out of it and then gave them the tractor for their garden,” said Matt.
In recent years, he’s also turned his talents to making furniture.
“I've made at least 10 tables now, that's only started them in the last 12 months,” he said.
His work has travelled far and wide.
“There's a motorbike in on the bar at one of the Melbourne motorbike clubs bar in their club rooms and I have one piece of art that went to Italy.”
From Echuca to Melbourne, his pieces have found homes across the state, and many have supported charitable causes.
“So I've made a lot of donations over the years to the Children's Hospital appeals and stuff like that.”
One of his favourite pieces comes from a neighbour.
“The neighbour is a semi-retired plumber. I was over at his place and he said, ‘Here, you might be able to make something out of this.’ It was a cast iron piece of metal and I made a cannon. I used the cylinder out of a truck and joined them together and put a couple of wheels that was given to me off a farm and a few other bits and pieces off old machinery.”
The cannon now sits proudly in his wife’s garden.
Among the biggest crowd-pleasers is Matthew’s one-of-a-kind kangaroos.
Matthew and his wife Linda say they’ve lost count of how many times people have offered to buy the pair of kangaroo sculptures stationed outside their roadside art shipping container.
But, as Matthew points out, no two pieces are alike.
“Once I've made them, I can't get the same parts again, they are all one of a kind. I have tried to make similar things for people.”
One of his inventions is koalas with movable limbs, the spring-loaded arms and legs allowing for a bit of freedom on where people can place their garden.
“That was an idea I come up with so people can put them up in trees,” he said.
What began as a creative outlet during recovery has become a vibrant part of the Glenorchy landscape, and a how one man’s vision, turns scrap into sculpture.
