Anyone walking down Boundary Street in recent days will have noticed a hive of creative activity at the People’s Park in the middle of the street, with numerous people engaged in renewing the large mural which covered the entire wall on the northern side of the park.
This mural is a collaboration between Jugglers Art Space and five Indigenous Australian students, studying at Griffith University, Southbank Campus (formerly known as QCA). All the students are just finishing their first year of the Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art.
According to Andrew Gall, one of the artists, “As a group, my fellow classmates and I came up with a design and storyline for the mural. We sought guidance from one of our lecturers, Mr Laurie Nielson, who was the lead artist on the previous mural. The design was then shown to Mr Peter Breen from Jugglers and Councilor Helen Abrahams, both agreed that the design would be suitable and a start date was set.”
The new Mural will be officially launched, and presented to the people of West End, at a ceremony in the Park at 4.00 pm on Monday 9th December. Light refreshments will be served. More information on the opening is available from Councillor Helen Abrahams’ office on 3403 2165.
The story reads from left to right when facing the wall:
Our story is ‘History in A Day’, that is to say from the far left to the end of the mural on the right, has a pallet of blended colours taken from sunrise to sunset then on into the night and finishing with the vibrant colours that make up the modern style of Graph art.
As you look to your left you will see a young Aboriginal boy sitting, looking down the river in a thoughtful pose, what he is thinking is left up to the imagination of the viewer. The young Aboriginal boy also represents a time when the river was young.
The river meanders through a tranquil natural bush setting until it reaches the next phase of its growth. Now it is midday and the colour tones have changed. This stage is represented by a young Aboriginal man, who is also looking downstream.
However this young man is standing next to a signpost and the name on the signpost is “Boundary Street”. The signpost is wrapped in barbed wire and a chain restricts this young Aboriginal man’s movements, illustrating a significant point in the history of both the river and West End.
(In Colonial times, Boundary St in West End and Spring Hill marked an actual boundary, which the local Aboriginals were prohibited from crossing to enter the young settlement of Brisbane, outside certain hours – Ed.)
As the day is coming to an end the river meanders past a site where the sacred fire used to burn bright, within the dancing flames there is a name, Musgrave Park.
It is evening now and the colours have changed, the river has grown older and bush has gone. There is an elderly Aboriginal man looking towards where the bush used to be, now there is a city with building taller than the trees which once stood proud and tall, the river keeps flowing on into the vibrant colours of the city lights, which reveal West End.
The Artists on this project are;
From Jugglers; Jordan Bruce (Lead artist) & Gus Eagleton
QCA Students were Emily Martin, Tori-Jay Mordey, Warraba Weatherall, Jason Murphy and Andrew T Gall.
Photo Credit: Kate Bennett, Embellysh Photography.
Caption: Back Row: Jason Murphy, Gus Eagleton, Andrew Gall and Cr Helen Abrahams
Front Row: Tori-Jay Mordey, Emily Martin, Jordan Bruce and Warraba Weatherall