The search begins to find a new home for giant 'forgotten' mural artwork
As an artwork it's massive and very, very 1960s kitsch; and it urgently needs to find a new home.
As an artwork it's massive and very, very 1960s kitsch; and it urgently needs to find a new home.
In the media business, we're often handed the most interesting, bordering on bizarre stories. This week The Illawarra Flame has been given an assignment unlike any other – finding a big new space to accommodate what can only be described as a work of art unique to the region, if not Australia.
Describing the art piece isn't easy. It's big, it's bold, and everyone will have their own view about its 'beauty'. After all, as they say, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. Let's just simply call it "audacious".
The history of this massive forgotten mural dates back nearly 60 years, to the swinging sixties. It was a time when The Beatles ruled the airwaves, the new $5 note went into circulation, Qantas dropped the word 'Empire' from its title, and Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in the surf near Melbourne.
The Port Kembla steelworks in the 1960s and n aerial of the steelworks
Artwork took 12 months to create
Closer to home, at the Port Kembla RSL Club, according to a report in The Illawarra Mercury, a big new mural was installed in the foyer of the building. At the time, it got everyone talking.
Costing more than $6,000 (that's the equivalent of nearly $100,000 in today's money), the unnamed artwork, made up of nearly 30 typical, or well-known Australian scenes, was produced by All Arts Pty Ltd based in Sydney. It took more than 12 months to complete.
According to the Mercury article, "the secretary-manager of the RSL club, Mr C. Warrington, said the mural symbolised the country for which Australian soldiers had fought and died. The mural, as far as he knew, was the first of its kind in Australia."
"The mural, all hand carved, is made of card mason," the 1967 newspaper report said. "Most of the scenes have been taken from actual photographs and made to scale."
It includes two instantly recognisable local scenes; the Port Kembla steelworks located close to the big chimney stack that has since been removed, and Bald Hill at Stanwell Park some years before it became a hang-gliding mecca.
It also captures iconic scenes from across Australia; Uluru (then referred to as Ayers Rock), men hard at work in a shearing shed, the Melbourne Cup, the Blue Mountains, the Swan River in Perth and, perhaps most interestingly, a view of Sydney Harbour capturing the famous bridge and the then under construction Sydney Opera House, which wouldn't be officially opened until 1973, seven years after the mural's creation.
At the centre of the mural is a scroll with the opening verse from one of Australia's most famous poems, Dorothea Mackellar's My Country, which could well be an appropriate title for the artwork.
A section of the mural with the under-construction Sydney Opera House years before it opened; The Melbourne Cup and the iconic El Alamein Fountain in Kings Cross, Sydney
Big mural has to be relocated soon
The Port Kembla RSL hasn't traded for well over a decade, but the mural still stands proudly in the foyer in fabulous condition. The only problem is it can't remain there.
The new owners of the RSL building, who've asked to remain anonymous at this time, have big plans for the place, but those plans don't include the mural. That being said, they recognise the scale of the artwork and its cultural significance, and would love to gift it to a new owner who can find the right location for it.
Considering it measures a whopping 7.5 metres by 3.5 metres, it's not destined for any old suburban home in Figtree or Warilla. In fact, given the depiction of so many classic Australian locations, it could be homed pretty much anywhere in the nation.
"In the next few months, we plan to start redeveloping the old building," the new owner said. "It will be gutted and everything internal is going, including the mural. We feel some sense of responsibility to try to retain it and find it a new home.
"It is definitely kitsch, and maybe out of fashion right now. But what is our responsibility to help preserve it?" the owner asked.
During The Illawarra Flame's visit, observers described the mural as "a treasure from another time" and "like a giant jigsaw puzzle of Australiana". Another said: "I'm just trying to get my head around it but it's slowly growing on me."
Scenes from the mural include Uluru, a classic Australian shearing shed scene, a scroll containing one of Australia’s most iconic poems, My Country, and the view across Stanwell Park from Bald Hill
No one is ready to take the mural
As impressive as it may be in scale, to date, no one is ready to take it on.
"We have offered it to the RSL, and clearly they've known it's been here since the club closed 13 years ago, but it seems they don't want it," the building owner said. "Council also isn't interested."
It appears the artwork could be easily dismantled, transported to a new location and reassembled. "Maybe in a large-scale retro gallery or a large-scale bar with a sixties theme," it was suggested.
Two of the lead proponents for a Museum of People, Country and Industry, Franca Facci and Patricia O'Brien, were given a private viewing of the mural this week.
Patricia O’Brien (left) and Franca Facci from the Museum of People Country and Industry view the mural
It should not be lost forever
While taken aback at the work's scale and that it's been a "lost" artwork for all these years, Franca said there's nowhere for it to be housed. And would it really "work" in the planned new museum anyway?
"Whatever comes of it, and I hope it finds the right home," Franca said, "these are the sort of pieces of our history and heritage that we need to properly document, so they're not lost forever."
Somehow, I've been entrusted with acting as the liaison person should anyone who reads this article be genuinely interested in becoming the proud new owner of this Australian classic. So, if that's you, please drop me a note at lasekjeremy@gmail.com.
It would certainly make a great footnote to this story if there is to be a happy ending.
It was appropriate that, given 1967 was the year of the referendum where Aboriginal people were counted in the official Census that there was representation of First Nations people in the mural.
Memorial area will be retained
The old Port Kembla RSL dates back more than 100 years and is believed to be one of the oldest in Australia.
When it finally closed its doors, the RSL had debts nearing $1 million.
The building has more than 2000 sq metres of floor space and, in its current form, it includes an indoor swimming pool, kitchen, dining room, bar areas and a dance hall spread over two levels.
The new owners confirmed the memorial area in front of the club will be retained. and will remain accessible to the public.
