They’re cute, they’re cuddly, they’d probably taste great with tartare sauce and a slice of lemon – please put your tentacles together for the bubble-headed bad boys of Burnie, Callum & Murray.

Wait a sec. Callum and Murray. Callum, Murray. That almost sounds like calamari. How clever!

Cal (the pink one) and Muz (the blue one) live in the water play area next to the surf club. But watch out, they’re armed and fabulous!

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Bigs, these cephalopods – although sufficiently large and oh-so-adorable – only have six legs apiece. Was the local council ripped off by the artist, or were the remaining legs stolen by some local tough guys?

Neither, my ink-wisitive friend. Callum and Murray are in fact hexapi, mythical six-legged sea beasties with fantastically fashionable shells, who are said to frolic in Burnie’s crystal-clear waters. Apparently they sashay out of the brine in pairs at dawn and squirt people who are just going about their business.

In a town like Burnie, that seems like a good way to get a punch in the head, but these festive fellows don’t seem too worried about it.

Despite spending all their time together, I should point out that these swingin’ sea studs are not a couple. They’re just inverte-great mates!

Weekend at Burnie

Callum and Murray may have boyish good looks, but they’re hardly new squids on the block. They started out life in 2011 as a relatively milquetoast installation known simply as Burnie Water Sculpture. Created by Arterial Design, the boys were originally plain white, without their handsome faces. They looked exactly the same.

You might even say they were i-tenticle – teehee!

Yes, they lit up at night – in a variety of colours, no less – but the mundane molluscs failed to wrap their suckers around the hearts of Tasmanians.

So in 2023 the council whipped out the sparkly paint to revamp them, and local wordsmith Gabrielle Mundy won a competition to give them a proper name.

I would’ve called them Squid Rock and Wiggles McGee, but what do I know?

Now this octo-passionate pair bring a little joy to the world – joining The Big Penguin and The Red Robin as darlings of Tassie’s windswept north coast.

Forget about hexapis, these guys are more like cutie-pies!