Monday, 27 July 2026

Meet Big Owl Sale Men’s Shed Guardian of The Community

Standing an imposing 2.7 metres tall at the Sale Community Gardens, Big Owl is hard to miss. Constructed from recycled timber by Sale Men’s Shed member David Wakefield, the giant sculpture has already captured the imagination of the local community and generated significant interest through a feature article in the Gippsland Times.

But Big Owl is much more than a striking piece of public art. It is the centrepiece of a pilot program called the Guardian Owl Project, a community initiative conceived and driven by David with the aim of bringing together men’s sheds, disability support services and NDIS participants across Gippsland to create meaningful opportunities for people to connect, build confidence and develop new skills.

David approached the Sale Men’s Shed in early May with the concept, recognising it as the ideal environment to create connections and share skills with people of all abilities. The program ran over several weeks with a maximum of three participants at any given time, giving each person genuine hands on involvement in the building process at whatever level suited them best.

For David, the owl was a deliberate and considered choice of subject. He sees the owl as a symbol of wisdom, awareness and quiet strength, and as the sculpture took shape it became a powerful representation of what participants can learn, create and contribute. The outcomes he sought were practical and deeply human: visible achievement, social connection, skill development and community pride.

The Sale Men’s Shed embraced the project wholeheartedly and the results speak for themselves. Big Owl now stands proudly in the Sale Community Gardens, a permanent reminder of what can be achieved when a men’s shed opens its doors to the broader community.

David hopes the Guardian Owl Project will become a blueprint for a much larger initiative across Gippsland. Watch this space.

 

With thanks to the Sale Men’s Shed for sharing this story. The project was also featured in the Gippsland Times.