Brunswick Junction’s Cow on the Corner celebrates 50 years as iconic tribute to town’s agricultural heart

If there is one thing Brunswick Junction is associated with, it is its strong connections to the State’s dairy industry.

It is no surprise then that in its early days, the Brunswick Junction Lions Club decided to honour this significant part of the town’s fabric with the installation of a replica Friesian cow at the intersection of Ommaney Road and Beela Road.

The a-moo-sing monument, known as the Cow on the Corner, has stood gazing over Lions Park ever since.

Now the town has celebrated a significant milestone, marking 50 years since the iconic cow was installed.

On July 13, 1973, the late Tom Pearson unveiled the 1.53m-high, 2m-long beast, with the project designed to be “...a district promotion project to signify Brunswick’s prominence in the dairying industry of this state”.

But to get it to town, Brunswick Junction Lions Club member Ron Arkwright said the late Murray Piggott had to carry it in his trailer.

“Unfortunately its legs got broken during the journey and Murray had to repair it before mounting it on its place of rest,” he said.

“So many a story has been told about that journey.”

Over the past five decades, it has become the unofficial mascot for the town, and has been repainted on multiple occasions as a result of those seeking to add the traditional black and white palette.

Harvey Brunswick Leschenault Football Club supporters have painted the cow in its trademark maroon and gold colours a number of times over the years, including 2020 when the colts took home the SWFL premiership.

“(It) is quite acceptable as long as the people doing the painting realise it has to be returned to black and white,” Mr Arkwright said.

While other places including Cowaramup now have replica cows lining their main streets, Mr Arkwright believes the Cow on the Corner was the first of its kind.

“Brunswick has always been a half-way stop for people on their way to the South West surfing spots and on many occasions the message would be ‘meet you at the cow at Brunswick’,” he said.