A Tongala dairy farmer is overwhelmed by the community response to her painted hay bales depicting the popular animated children's show character, Bluey.
About two weeks ago, what started out as a fun activity for her three children in their backyard quickly went viral after Kristen Gordon posted a photograph of the hay creation on Facebook.
“It was all about trying to get my kids outside in the afternoon, it was easy because we didn't have to go anywhere and we have most of the supplies,” Mrs Gordon said.
It is not unusual for Mrs Gordon's children to see hay bales, as they live on a 208 ha dairy farm with 360 cows.
“After we got so much attention, we added (the character) Bingo and moved them to the road, so more people could see it,” she said.
Since Mrs Gordon's husband Chad Gordon and her father Kevin Murphy moved the hay bales to the road, they have received even more interest.
“Up to eight cars could be sitting out the front and it's a busy area, so it's not an ideal road for kids to be getting out of cars to look at the hay bales — I decided they needed to be relocated,” Mrs Gordon said.
“I spoke to the local post office and it was moved into town with a telehandler and a truck.”
Mrs Gordon said she had spoken with a family who had travelled from Bendigo to see the hay bale characters.
She said she had no background in art and had only ever made stick figures for her children's kindergarten.
“You often see hay bales popping up and I would certainly encourage farming families to jump on board and spread some cheer,” she said.
The Bluey and Bingo hay bales were not designed to withstand the weather, and Mrs Gordon said people who were interested should visit them before they started to deteriorate.
The hay bale characters can be found at the post office at 2 Cavell St, Tongala.