WHAT’S big, bright, as blue as the sky it touches and holds the title for best street art experience in Victoria?
The Yarram Water Tower mural.
You can’t miss the tower standing prouder than ever on Nightingale Street – a beacon of colour attracting busloads of local and interstate visitors and even gaining notoriety among an international audience.
The 2023 Australian Art Awards results were recently announced, and on March 8, the Yarram Water Tower mural was awarded a gold medal in the category for Best Street Art Experience in Victoria and a bronze medal in the Mega Mural Category.
The Australian Street Art Awards’ Charter was founded in 2018 to “provide Australian communities, including those in remote and regional areas, with a means to be recognised for outdoor art that is being promoted to make their destination and our collective country a more attractive place to visit and explore”.
In 2023, awards were introduced for the Best Street Art Experience in each state or territory to encourage visitors to explore Australia comprehensively.
Judges remarked on this year’s recognised artworks: “These pieces are contributing significantly to making Australia a more vibrant, creative and interesting country – somewhere visitors want to explore more keenly.”
Coastal Ward councillor Gayle Maher praised the Yarram Water Tower mural at last week’s council meeting (March 19), describing the monumental artwork as the “crowning glory of the Yarram Mural Trail”.
She said the accolades it received “really represents (The Friends of Heesco Town’s) hard work and kudos that is certainly well-deserved”.
Officially launched in April 2023, the Water Tower Mural marked the 25th addition to the ‘Heesco Town’ series.
The series was a collaborative endeavour between The Friends of Heesco Town, a group of dedicated Yarram residents instrumental in bringing the murals to life and renowned Mongolian-Australian artist Khosnaran Khurelbaatar, who lends his nickname Heesco to the project.
Last month, upon reflecting on the nomination for the awards, Heesco told the Gippsland Times it was great to be acknowledged again through the Australian Street Art Awards.
Other Heesco Town murals have won Best Street Art Trail at the Australian Street Art Awards in 2020 and 2021.
“It’s always so exciting, but it wasn’t just about me. It’s such a big group effort,” Heesco said.
In 2018, South Gippsland Water supported the Tarra Tourism Association’s idea for a mural on the tower. Five years later, the project was handed over to ‘The Friends of Heesco Town’ and was sponsored by Eric Greenaway with the support of the community.
The circumference of the water tower’s upper section, designed by Wayne Tindall, President of The Friends of Heesco Town and designer of many Heesco murals around Yarram, showcases local landmarks and wildlife, including:
Vast coastline views along 90 Mile Beach to the Corner Inlet Marine National Park and south towards Port Albert and whale watching spots at Wilsons Promontory;
State Forests featuring Won Wron and Mullungdung and forest dwellers like the Strzelecki Koala;
- Agnes Falls, a 59-metre drop single-span waterfall;
- The Tarra Bulga National Park featuring the Corrigan Suspension Bridge;
- The famous King Parrot;
- Boran the Pelican from the Gunaikurnai dreaming, and;
- The Long Jetty at Port Welshpool that stretches around 800m.
The lower section of the tower is adorned with vibrant imagery, each carrying thoughtful Indigenous stories and symbolic meanings.
It showcases the five shields representing the Gunaikurnai clans and depictions of country, water, food, shelter, and tracks.
Gunaikurnai Elder Sandra Patten envisioned the design, inspired by the Sea of Hands, a symbol of solidarity since 1977 among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, organisations, and leaders regarding rights and reconciliation issues.
This water tower mural, brought to life by Heesco, required 300 litres of paint and took four weeks to complete. Some days, Heesco would work for ten hours – rain, hail, or shine.
Since the completion of the water tower, Heesco has painted two more.
One mural is situated atop the Bean Pedlar café on Commercial Rd.
Another portrays local hero Robin Smith, known for rescuing 15 kidnapped hostages, including nine children after the escaped prisoner Edwin Eastwood broke into a Wooreen school in 1977.
With 27 murals in total, the Mural Trail’s intention to revitalise the region into a tourist hotspot as it recovers from the impact of the 2019/20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic has been both an honourable and successful mission, with the recognition it garnered at the Australian Art Awards truly putting Yarram on the map.
