I was excited to be asked to create a mural for Port Fairy Consolidated School where I used to attend as a past student from grade 1 through to grade 6. In the lead up to its creation, I facilitated sessions in 2023 with each class talking about my artwork ‘My Country, My Medicine,’ explaining places that are special to me and that I feel connected to. We also looked at Aboriginal symbols and learnt about their meaning.
All the children were encouraged to create a sketched design using symbols and their own representations of places they feel connected to, particularly in the Port Fairy area.
I collected all the students designs and put together the new design for the mural using some of the children’s artworks and stories as the inspiration. Making sure I captured the things they felt where special to the area, the school and to them.
This mural is pretty much a continuation on from the ‘Bright Futures’ artwork and story that I created for the school before this project.
‘Past, Present and our future,’ is what I have titled the mural, it remembers the past Aboriginal people that roamed the lands and waterways before us , and shows a woven eel trap and the rocks they used to manipulate the waterways and catch the eels as well as their footprints along the sands of the beaches near the lighthouse and an old gathering place where the lighthouse is located and along the river. They also signify the continuation of culture and the cultural presence that the current Aboriginal students bring to the school.
The whale tails represent the whales that often pass through Port Fairy on their journeys.
There are also a few different species of water creatures such as an octopus, a great white shark, a sting ray, a crab done very similar to how the students created them, and a few fish such as the bream and mullet in the river section. I have the ocean running into the Merri River as it runs through the town.
The lighthouse, the seagulls and the Norfolk pines are iconic representations of Port Fairy and are a visual presence in the town. The kangaroo and emu tracks represent the native animals that call Port Fairy, and its surrounding areas home and Bunjil the Wedge Tailed Eagle is flying over watching and protecting the lands and the people.
The pattern in the land above the ocean and the river represents connection to each other and place. The paved pathway has bluestone pavers in it representing the bluestone that Port Fairy is a well-known producer and supplier of with many buildings in the area featuring blue stone within it.
The Yellow-tailed black cockatoo feather represents the bird life in the area as well as it being a frequent visitor to one of the trees at the school and it is also a totem animal of the Gunditjmara people.
The tree in the middle represents the foundation of learning and each branch is an extension of knowledge that is passed onto the children through the teachers. The teachers and students at the school both have their handprints on the tree to make the leaves. Inside the tree a pattern has been made from the student’s fingerprints representing their unique identity and that each one of us are special in our own way.
The sun behind the tree represents the bright future of the students and has seven rings in it for the seven years that they will have at the school from foundation to grade 6 as well as the seven circles around it.
Running through the whole mural is a journey line that represents the learning journey of everyone that attends the school.
The stars represent our ancestors and loved ones that continue to watch over and guide us as we learn and find our way in the present and into the future.
