Officially open: (L-R) Aiden Marsh, Ruby Kellett, Ella Hughes cut the ribbon to open the mural site.
Seven murals relating to the Goulburn River were officially unveiled at the Tongala Town Square on a beautiful March morning as part of the Tongala Art Trail.
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Ruby Kellett, Aiden Marsh and Ella Hughes from Tongala Primary School cut the ribbon to officially open the new murals.
There was a short ceremony during which Lions Club president Ross Taylor thanked everyone for the great turnout.
In the limelight was Murray Ross, the Lions member behind this new addition to the art trail.
“It’s a thing we’ve been building up to for three months or more,” Mr Ross said.
“It’s an addition that will keep the tourists here longer.”
The murals tell the story of the Goulburn River, and its significance to the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District.
“Because of the irrigation. That's the biggest thing,” Mr Ross said.
Murray Ross: The man behind the paint brush.
“But not just the agricultural benefits, the sporting facilities it provides, recreation ... people go down fishing or camping. It’s an asset.”
The murals translate local folklore and stories into art, immortalising them for the next generations.
“Some of (the murals) tell the culture of the town and the district,“ Mr Ross said.
“There’s one that tells the funny side of things, how a local smarty came up from Melbourne to the local shearing shed.
“He said ‘I’m the best of everything, I can shear quicker than all you guys’, and the local blokes said ‘oh yeah, probably; tell you what, I’ll bet you 10 bucks’, so he bet him 10 bucks — but the local bloke let him win!
“He said ‘here’s your 10 bucks you won’, so now he says, ‘tell you what, double or nothing. I bet you can’t shear a sheep blindfolded’, and the bloke said, ‘oh yeah, all right, I’ll take that on’.”
“So (the local bloke) went into the shed and got the biggest ram he could find, took off his scarf, blindfolded the sheep and shorn him no worries.”
Another amusing Tatura tale from years ago that’s told in the murals is the case of the absentee train carriage.
“On the train line, the school children used to go by diesel motor from here to Echuca for school,” Mr Ross said.
“The boys used to sit in the front carriage and the girls in the back carriage. So out at Koyuga one time while they were stopped picking up people, the boys pulled out the pin and left the girls behind.”
As soon as the ceremony ended, the Lions manned the barbecues, and the sound of hissing snags and the smell of sizzling onions permeated the air.
Four generations of Tongala residents mingled together with a snag in hand.
Chooka Tinning and his wife, Elaine, handcrafted the metal sculptures found around the mural site.
The couple make these sculptures out of scrap, turning old metal into beautiful art that adorns their garden.
When Mr Ross saw those, he told the Tinnings he would like some for the new mural garden, requesting an emu and a longneck turtle, both of which now sit at the entrance ready to greet visitors to the mural site.
The emu, “Chooka the big chook“, is made out of a dog chain, parts of a super spreader, donated recycled chains and steel scrap. Mr Tinning gave it a lick of paint and then Mr Ross added a few finishing touches for the mural.
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