By Shamsiya Hussainpoor
The Upwey Community Group (UCG) has unveiled six vibrant new murals, by two talented artists, on the side of the Pearl Garden Chinese restaurant in Upwey Village Green in celebration of the diverse culture and history under the theme ‘Moving Forward Together’.
The murals funded by the Yarra Ranges Council and UCG aims to enhance public art while simultaneously shedding light on Indigenous and multicultural stories in the community.
The new murals replaced the old, faded ones from Upwey Primary School, which was supported by the school.
Volunteers from the UCG played an important role in bringing the new murals to life – they applied for the Yarra Ranges Council grant and worked closely with the council throughout the process.
The project leader and a passionate advocate for community art Linda Fullagar said a few years ago, the community group held a public meeting to gather input on what residents wanted to see in the town’s future – one key suggestion was a desire for more public art, especially to represent Indigenous culture.
“This feedback inspired the current mural project, thanks to a grant from the council, the group commissioned two artists to create a total of six murals, celebrating the community’s diverse heritage and enhancing the local artistic landscape,” Ms Fullagar said.
“We wanted to create a welcoming and safe space for everyone, and art plays a crucial role in that.”
The project has six murals, each measuring 1200 x 1830mm, created by two artists, Indigenous Australian Thulli Mara and Shwshanni Rose Guecia-Gherlardini, who has Italian and Native American heritage.
The proud Wurundjeri Indigenous artist from Bayswater Thulli Mara was contacted by another indigenous artist about the opportunity.
“I wanted to share a bit of my journey and story through my artwork, my culture is all about storytelling and self-expression, which I find really therapeutic and one of my biggest inspirations for art is seeing people’s reactions to it,” Mr Mara said.
“I chose to depict the rainbow serpent “Yurlunggur”, who is always creating paths and changing the landscape – this resonates with me because, as people with all cultures, we are always constantly moving forward and adapting through ups and downs.”
“I also included the Australian eagle, represented with its wings spread, symbolising protection and watching over everyone.”
The proud Wurundjeri artists enjoys painting landscapes, incorporating symbolism like his’s line work and Dreamtime stories.
The mural on the opposite wall has a colonial feel with a tall ship, which made him reflect on changing representations.
“At first, I thought it was a nice painting, but I realised it depicted us as bush people living in trees, which didn’t sit right,” Mr Mara said.
“The first panel represents night-time, featuring a rising moon and showing hunters or warriors returning to their camp, surrounded by the big gum trees and eucalypts of the Dandenongs – a Dreamtime serpent stretches through both paintings.”
“The second panel is set during the day, moving towards sunset, and focuses on a tree that holds significant stories for local communities – trees have been around for thousands of years and carry a lot of history, we have many different types of trees in our culture too, like birthing trees and wedge trees, which play important roles in our Dreamtime stories and I wanted to incorporate that significance into my artwork.”
Both artists were able to finish the murals from their homes and often communicated through video calls and messages to share their ideas.
The murals ended up with Ms Guecia-Gherlardini focusing on a very feminine side, while Mr Mara worked on a more masculine aspect.
The Melbourne-based muralist, Shwshanni Rose Guecia-Gherlardini who just finished a large project on a big Volkswagen van, featuring an Australian sunset with ochre colours and local flora and fauna when the council reached out to her to see if she’d be interested in the Upwey mural project.
She incorporated the multicultural aspect of the murals, drawing from her Italian and Native American heritage.
“The original brief focused on moving together as a community and adding more diversity to Upwey, as many existing murals tell the coloniser’s story, we decided to emphasise nature, which is a big part of the Hills area,” Ms Guecia-Gherlardini said.
“I created a day and night transition, including night-time birds like the tawny frogmouth and kookaburra, along with the Black Cockatoo and for the daytime, I featured the Australian honeyeater and flowers that bloom in the sun.”
“The central figure is a fiery sun energy woman, representing my art and Native American culture while paying homage to Indigenous Australian land – I hope these murals reflect on people’s understanding of Australia and their place in it.”
Each mural symbolises the theme of ‘moving forward together,’ allowing the artists to interpret the concept in unique ways that resonate with local culture.
“I hope these murals deepens people’s understanding and appreciation of Indigenous culture, and I hope for a treaty that gives Indigenous people a greater voice in how this land is nurtured and cultivated, particularly in nature-rich areas like this,” she said.
“It’s incredible that for thousands of years, Indigenous culture thrived without harming biodiversity – seeing a return to that harmonious way of living would be beautiful for Australia and I believe that’s an important goal for the future.”
The funding for the project was given in January, and finally wrapped up and launched on Saturday 25 October at 9am.
“We hope this would encourage more people to visit our town, because the murals are really rich pieces of art in the Village Green,” Ms Fullagar said.
“I wanted to create something in a public space that makes people think about our culture and background, which is a mix of Indigenous, multicultural, and European influences – the art reflects the beautiful nature around us, with birds and trees all around.”
Visitors to the murals will be able to scan a QR code located next to the artworks, giving access to short interviews with the artists – these interviews offer deeper insights into the inspiration behind each mural and the meanings they convey.
Working alongside the artists and video maker Daniel Jackson, the volunteers prepared the mural boards and applied an anti-graffiti coating to protect the artworks, as well as promoting the event by uploading videos to YouTube, updated the UCG website, and mounted the murals and accompanying signage, ensuring the community could fully enjoy this vibrant new addition.
“I’d call them artworks more than murals because the artists have done an amazing job, and when we received them, we were truly blown away by their talent – it’s incredible,” Ms Fullagar said.
