The death of an Australian institution

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https://www.smh.com.au/national/swan-song-for-the-rubber-soul-of-the-old-australian-garden-20040320-gdikpa.html

When did you last see one of these in Perth?

 

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Swan song for the rubber soul of the old Australian garden​

March 20, 2004 — 11.00pm

It's another native animal close to extinction.
Cut from old tyres and often painted white, the swans could hold pot plants and ferns or just sit there - adding a bit of grace to the garden.
But a tyre swan-making competition held tomorrow in Rylstone, 50 kilometres from Mudgee, is trying to revive this lost art. "I've noticed that they are gradually disappearing from Australian gardens - which is a shame," said competition organiser Ginny Handmer.

"Tyre swans remind people of their own childhood. Making them relied on the grandfather's brain and the grandchild's brawn. But nowadays children are less likely to play in the garden and parents are less likely to make things with their children for the garden," she said.
Michael Keating is trying to breed tyre swans out of extinction. He started making them last week in his shed in Rylstone. Placing an old tyre on a workbench, he marks it with chalk, before cutting, then chain-sawing into the tyre, creating a beak, a back and the swan's neck.

Then comes the hard part, turning the tyre back to create the body of the swan. The steel in many new tyres has made this harder, Mr Keating said.
"It's back-breaking work. You have to stand on the tyre, put your whole weight on it and try and turn it around, " he said.
Agnes Tilley, 67, of Cullen Bullen, still has tyre swans in captivity. They have been at her garden gate for 23 years and are showing signs of age.

The rubber has lost its shine, the paint of their beaks is peeling and their necks have started to droop. But her husband loved making them and giving them as presents, and they are a reminder of his work in the garden, even 18 years after his death.
But maybe the extinction of tyre swans is a symptom of an Australia that is fast disappearing.
Mrs Tilley said: "It's much easier now for people to just go and buy something for their garden. They think: why make anything? It's too much effort."