Months later they finally arrived in the town to celebrate its status as one of 12 gold medallists in the awards.
Tongala won best street art trail in what was a David and Goliath-type battle with Bendigo.
There were only two other Victorian gold medal-winning towns — Violet Town for its Southern Aurora Memorial and the beachside suburb of Frankston.
In Tongala’s category, the silver and bronze medal winners were from Maryborough in Queensland and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
The awards founders’ Tongala visit was hosted by Tongala Lions Club president Ross Taylor, renowned mural artist and street art trail inspiration Murray Ross and Tanya Kesson, the lessor known but significant face behind the submission.
Ms Kesson, a website designer, was responsible for ticking all the boxes of the submission criteria and is the individual responsible for the street art trail’s online presence.
Ms Rivers and Ms Morgan both come from tourism backgrounds. The awards were inspired by a conversation over a bottle of wine after viewing a raging bull sculpture along Queensland’s Bruce Hwy.
The first awards were staged in 2019. Tongala qualified as a finalist in year three and claimed a gold medal this year.
While tiny in comparison to several other participating towns, Tongala was not the smallest of the winning entries. That title belongs to Thallon, in Queensland’s Little St George region, which has a population of 200.
South Australian country towns Bute and Quorn were also recognised as gold medallists in this year’s awards.
"Tongala’s category is the most hotly contested category, which makes the win even more noteworthy,“ Ms Rivers said.
“Three judges said that the town and its sunmission ticked every box.”
The pair used the visit to see the artwork first-hand and gain a bit of an understanding of what inspired the work of the small group.
“Last year we were in Ballarat for a national tourism conference when the October floods hit,” Ms Rivers said.
Both from Queensland, the award founders are in the early stages of an eight-month trip around Australia to visit as many of the gold medal-winning sites as possible.
After Tongala they were travelling to Tasmania to recognise the work of the island state in winning a handful of medals.
Ms Rivers said it took many parts to do a street art trail well and Tongala had done it without a million-dollar budget.
“Not that many are doing it really well. Tongala does it very well,” she said.
Ms Kesson’s work is easy to see online at Tongala.com.au
The website details all the street art sites and tells the story of the town’s artwork.
“The site allows me to see just how many people Google Tongala. We were almost unknown until recently,” Ms Kesson said.
“We all share one common goal: ensure our town's survival.”
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