When Queensland’s Etheridge Shire Council decided to refurbish its Council Office foyer late last year, CEO Les Edmistone asked staff for ideas for a feature wall behind the front counter.
Located in the Gulf Savannah region of north Queensland, Etheridge covers almost 40,000 square kilometres and has a population of around 1,000 people.
With cattle, gold mining and tourism the Shire’s major industries, it was not surprising that the preferred feature design, proposed by IT Officer, Terry Walsh, comprised a silhouette of a gold miner against the map of Queensland. The design is an adaptation of the official Etheridge Shire logo, and also features the words, ‘Etheridge Shire Council’.
Les Edmistone said he involved staff in the project as it generates ownership.
“I wanted staff to feel part of the office, and by involving them in the design, decision making and construction phase, they feel like the project is theirs and their working environment becomes their own.”
With the new design approved, the only problem was who could actually make the piece, and as it was his idea, Terry was asked if he knew anyone who would be able to help. Deciding that it would be too difficult to explain the concept to a company hundreds of kilometres away, and that it would cost a good deal of money, Terry volunteered to complete the project himself.
Using Paint Shop Pro, an original Shire Logo graphics file, and a touch of artistic license, Terry created two separate images. Then, with the help of local GIS mapping guru, Michael Digby, a template was plotted on heavy mapping paper and traced onto a sheet of three millimetre steel plate.
Terry cut the image out freehand using a plasma cutter in the workshop of Etheridge Mayor, Warren Devlin.
After a final cleanup with angle grinders and wire brushes, the piece was then spray painted with a satin black finish.
In the mean time, lettering cut from aluminium and brass plate had been ordered from a laser cut graphics company in Melbourne, which arrived late in December.
Terry used the Christmas New Year break to complete, assemble and fix the project into place, so that when the office reopened in January, the new look foyer was complete.
“The result is quite remarkable, especially considering it was created by a bloke who’s day is usually ruled by ‘error’ messages and ‘IP addresses’,” Les Edmistone said.
