This sculpture represents the artists love for the natural beauty of Australia’s southwest, and the delicate environmental balance existing withing the region.  This piece shows a black cockatoo flying “over” and mounted onto steel rods representing a eucalyptus branch, in the way we would see it flying naturally. Even from a distance, the acrobatic “style of flight” is quite distinctive for Black Cockatoos. Alan's challenge when constructing this sculpture was to create the typical black cockatoo appearance - without over-working the piece. You might notice the branch is a bit lighter in colour – somewhat grey. This is intentional, and is designed to give the darker sculpture a free floating and suspended appearance when placed alongside a light-coloured backdrop. 

The Jarrah body is made from old decking off-cuts from the historic Cape Naturalist Lighthouse precinct. The wings and head come from an old oil drum that lay in a wrecking yard, in Busselton, for years. How it was acquired is probably worthy of a fire-side story. The base is an offcut form another cockatoo project, and that originally comes from the fence posts found on the property that was established by Tim Conelly – the man who discovered Lake Cave in 1897. The entire piece is comprised of recycled components - every component has a story! 

Tips for transport & installation: 
For ease of transport this installation can be broken down to 4 components. If necessary, the wings can be unscrewed and removed from the body (by way of square-drive screw), and the body can be removed from the branch and that can also be removed from the base. The piece can therefore be packaged and moved more conveniently.

Care for sculpture
The steel and timber compliments can be treated with a simple coating of linseed oil and turpentine in 50/50 mixture - lightly brushed on. Puy the sculpture outside on a hot day – this allows the oil to penetrate and leave a thin, even film of oil.  This coating can be applied as regularly as every 6 months – this is recommended if the piece is outdoors and exposed to the elements. If indoors, the process can be repeated every few years. Any commercially available furniture oil, such as tung oil, can be used for this application. Penetrol is used for outdoor settings and office higher levels of protection and should be applied every 6 months to 1 year or if any rust starts to develop.