The works consist of a large rat, a blowfly, a dunny, two people in an environmental lookout, a UFO, a cockroach, a caricature of Ned Kelly, and a tin man.[1]
The statues were made by local resident and farmer, Stephen Jones, as a protest against the establishment of a dump in the late 1990s by the Olsen government, as part of a plan to replace the Wingfield Waste & Recycling Centre.[1] Although the protest was unsuccessful, the statues remained, and are now regarded as part of South Australia's political and cultural history,[2] to the extent that they were nominated for heritage status by David Winderlich in 2009.[3]
In 2013 the cockroach was removed from the set when the owner of the land relocated and decided to sell the property. The cockroach was relocated to a scrapyard in nearby Two Wells.[4] This led to a Facebook campaign by Andrew Costello.[4] The campaign led to Costello learning about the current location of the cockroach, and he purchased it from the owners for "two slabs of beer".[5] After being restored and temporarily relocated to Rundle Mall, the cockroach was to be returned to the original site in 2014.[5]