Symphony of light

The man responsible for the stunning Field of Light installation at Uluru, Bruce Munro, has turned his attention and tremendous talents towards another outback location with his latest lighting extravaganza, the Fibre Optic Symphonic Orchestra near the NSW town of Wentworth.

Known as FOSO for short, the expansive installation at what is considered the ‘gateway to the outback’, looks more like a collection of Australia’s iconic Hills Hoists clothes lines from a distance, but when the sun dips below the horizon, features 80 illuminated clotheslines that dazzle, shimmer and shine in the dark to the tune of a stirring soundtrack.

Shades of neon pink, bright orange, citrus green, purple and sapphire blue pulsate in time to an original dynamic score by Emmy Award-winning British composer Nainita Desai.

Munro refers to the illuminated structures as his ‘musicians’ and has placed them in an orchestra pit layout.

“My aim was to fulfil a childhood dream and create an experience where one could lie-down, sit, stand, walk, cartwheel and dance around an ‘orchestra’ as it played,” he says.
“It’s taken five years of planning, made and installed by many talented people.”

Seeing the installation completed, Munro says he is thrilled and excited.

“I am always happy to see a project come to fruition – on first viewing it felt somewhat surreal and I wondered if I was dreaming,” he says.

The setting, four kilometres from Wentworth, where the Murray and Darling rivers meet, is also impressive. It is located near the ancient Perry sand hills which geologists estimate to be more than 40,000 years old.

Munro’s sister installation Trail of Lights is located on Lock Island at nearby Mildura, a 30-minute drive away. Opened in April 2025, it features 12,500 illuminated ‘fireflies’ and 22 fishing rod sculptures.

It too, is another evocative experience, as you wander among the lights at night and Munro recommends that the two very different installations are best experienced on consecutive evenings.

“The two installations were always planned to be linked like siblings -Trail of Lights is Yin so FOSO is yang,” he says.

It’s a joint project between Victoria’s Mildura Rural City Council and NSW’s Wentworth Rural City Council, financed by government grants of more than $7.9 million.

FOSO joins Munro’s growing body of work that stretches beyond Australian shores to include California’s Sensorio in Paso Robles, Field of Light in Manhattan, New York, Mountain Lights in Hokkaido, Japan and Fireflies in Bradford on Avon, UK. In Australia, his other large-scale installations include the Light Towers at Northern Territory’s Kings Canyon, while the aforementioned Field of Lights at Uluru has recently celebrated its 10^th anniversary with more than 750,000 visitors witnessing the 50,000 solar-powered light stems since it opened in 2016.

While FOSO and its sister installation, Trail of Lights are reason enough to plan a visit, the region others all manner of unique experiences that beg for a longer stay.

The mighty Murray that meanders through the Sunraysia district, is home to a rich agricultural food bowl and is Australia’s longest river at 2508 kms. Such an impressive body of water is best explored on one of its famous houseboats, offering up a lazy way to explore the area, stopping at will to take in small towns, golf courses, wineries and restaurants along the way.

But it’s the river landscape that is the showstopper, with mirror-like reflections seen on calm days and firey ruby red sunsets giving the surrounding countryside a magical quality.

Kangaroos, wallabies and turtles sunbake on semi-submerged logs along the way and the birdlife is nothing short of spectacular, with whistling kites, egrets, colourful parrots watching the passage of the houseboat and wedge tailed eagles soaring overhead.

The houseboat offerings on the Murray vary significantly, from compact vessels for intimate getaways, to large ‘floating palaces’ that offer all of the comforts of a good hotel and the capacity to carry large groups of people if required.

The riverboat seen here called Pure Paradise is well equipped with five-bedrooms with ensuites, televisions and sliding doors opening to the decks. The two-story houseboat  features a large kitchen, living and dining area to seat 12 on the first level, while upstairs a spa and entertainment area are perfect for stretching out and watching river life pass by.

The ‘captain’ of the day can steer the houseboat from up or downstairs and operation is simple and straightforward, requiring just a driver’s licence and a thorough briefing before getting behind the wheel.

Itineraries too are many and varied and depend greatly on the time at your disposal and just how adventurous you would like to be. A perfect snapshot of life on the river could see you travel from a starting point in Mildura upstream to Gol Gol where the historic pub known as the Golly – licenced in 1877 – is the perfect place to stop and ‘toast’ the river.

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast, an easy cruise to Trentham Estate Winery would see you arrive just in time for lunch and a wine tasting before heading to the river town of Red Cliffs in the afternoon to watch its vivid orange ochre-coloured bluffs turn the water to crimson in the fading light.

Four hours cruising will see you back in Mildura the next day where numerous delights are on offer, from the culinary to the sporting.

The multi-award winning Stefano’s Restaurant of Mildura’s historic Grand Hotel is well worth a visit for those with a penchant for fine food, while those practitioners of ‘the great game’ will be tested by the layouts at Riverside Golf Club near Mildura and the picturesque Coomealla Golf Club at Dareton.

On land or on the river, it’s a trip conducted at a gentle pace, but in an area that offers up spectacular sunsets and natural beauty coupled with welcoming locals, fine food and a sense of being far from the madding crowd. Add the striking Fibre Optic Symphonic Orchestra and Trail of Lights to the mix, and the dreamlike quality of a trip to this part of the country is complete and will long provide calming memories of your return to the faster pace of daily life.

Given that the drive from Sydney to Mildura is around 850km and 550km from Melbourne, unless you are committed to a serious road trip, the best way to enjoy this part of the country is to fly to Mildura and rent a car. Major airlines offer regular direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Mildura.