The HMAS Otway at Holbrook has been transformed from a traditional submarine into a bright yellow one to celebrate 50 years since The Beatles visited Australia.
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For five days about 20 volunteers were working on the 90-metre long submarine at any given time, going well into the night last Wednesday, putting together thousands of knitted squares of wool.
Volunteers, co-ordinated by Murray Arts, knitted huge pieces to be put on the conning tower, with social media playing a vital role in encouraging participation.
“We realised that there wasn’t enough to cover the conning tower and I was taught how to arm knit to help make this massive piece that was about 10-metres wide,” volunteer Freda Turner said.
The submarine, Holbrook’s major tourist attraction, was unveiled at a public ceremony on Thursday.
Greater Hume Shire mayor Heather Wilton, who was on hand for the ceremony, said the yarn-bombing project was a sight to behold.
“It’s proven to be a really interesting project for so many people and everybody feels a sense of ownership – that’s the really great part,” Councillor Wilton told The Border Mail.
“It’s been a fantastic opportunity for people to work together to produce something so unique.”
The project brought together around 400 people for the official launch, not to mention the people who learnt to knit or worked together before the yarn bombing even began.
While the launch of the yarn bombed submarine was impressive to top it off 150 students from Holbrook Public School, Mullengandra Public School and St. Patricks Primary School sang the Beatles song Yellow Submarine.
Museum curator Roger Cooper was pleased with the project but exhausted.
“I don’t even want to guess how many ties I’ve done it but it would be in the thousands,” he said.
“It has been fantastic; lots of people called in to help - even people that I’ve never seen before.”
Woollen panels were sent for the submarine from people overseas and Mr Cooper believes the international flavour was thanks to the military training Australian troops previously carried out overseas.
“Before we had facilities here we went overseas to train” he said.
One of the major works of the yarn-bombing was the piece whichcovered the sonar dome.
It was a massive crocheted circle which had to be added to to fit over the colossal area.
“We added diamond pieces for elasticity so it could stretch and then added another row or panels until we covered it. It was quite amazing how it was done,” volunteer Rhonda Scott said.
Once taken down the panels will be donated to the animal shelter and used as dog blankets, apart from the artists panels which will be kept at the submarine museum or at the Murray Arts office.
