A new inclusive changing places building, built in the Shire of Toodyay, Western Australia, is the site of the town’s first mural.
The Toodyay Tidy Towns Committee wanted a mural to represent the outstanding features of Toodyay, and the community that won four category awards in the 2015 Keep Australia Beautiful Competition and was also awarded Australia’s Tidiest Town in that year.
The changing places building design included a wall for a mural providing the perfect opportunity for the town to celebrate its achievements and the committee and Shire embraced the venture.
The artwork was created using layers of imagery with significant meaning and structure.
The central theme of the background is the mapping of Toodyay from the sky using an abstract mapping country style similar to that of both current and past Aboriginal artists.
The Avon River dominantly runs through the image giving the town life and a central heart. To the top and right of the background image lie the rolling hills of the surrounding properties and farmland that wrap around the town site.
The coloured circles at the bottom are representative of Duidgee Park and its location on the river and the river pebbles that local children love to play with when the river is low in the hot summer months.
The shapes running north of the river and into the hills are a nod to early, current and future settlers to Toodyay. Humans settled around the water to establish a town then moved up into the landscape around and into the Toodyay hills.
The colours represent the impressive spring flower display that occurs annually in and around the Avon Valley. The solid background colours are mirrored in the foreground images while still maintaining colours sympathetic to the subject matter.
The birds depicted are the Rufous Whistler and the Re-Capped Robin both local to the Shire of Toodyay.
