Murals add life and colour and help reduce graffiti
Neighbourhood Watch 3193 has painted three Murals so far – two in Black Rock and one in Seaview, Beaumaris. Our Murals are designed to be both attractive and to represent aspects of life in our suburb.
We currently have three additional Murals under consideration.
Our Murals so far...Scroll down to read the stories...
Magnificent Black Rock Mural
Bluff Road Car Park
Black Rock Lifesavers
Beach Road Black Rock
Seaview Toilet Mural
Balcombe Road, Seaview
The story of "The magnificent Black Rock Mural"
The beginning
In May 2018 NHW Black Rock decided to paint a Mural in the Black Rock shopping centre. The idea followed on from comments made at community meetings by the Bayside Police that graffiti was getting very bad in Bayside and NHW should try and do something about it. There were many options to consider from forming a graffiti group to go out and paint out all the tags. This was a big job but was feasible. But Bob Lorraine who was a committee person on the BR NHW group had a better idea. Why not paint a mural on one of the major graffiti walls to try and influence the taggers? So, with this thought in mind Bob set out to find a suitable site and then get the ok from the building owner, then the lessee and the Bayside Council.
Bob approached the owner who didn’t really care as he was not a local. The building tenant said what a great idea.
The site was agreed by the NHW BR committee and then the plan had to be developed.
Bob Lorraine gets to work!
Bob did just that. He developed a budget and a plan. He sought Bayside council approval and the authorities including VicRoads, Power company and others.
But we needed money as there was an 11x 7 metre wall to paint.
We seek Council grant
We decided to apply for a Bayside Council Smarty grant and to run a raffle.
Sandringham College joins us
It was decided to involve Sandringham Secondary College.. We had a meeting with Ms Amy Porter, the College Principal and one of her Art Teachers Ms Kylie Maltarollo, a very talented and committed person.
Art Competition – The guidelines
Together we decided to host a competition for all the students to design a mural that would include local features in Black Rock. These included Red Bluff cliffs, The Clock Tower, HMAS Cerberus, The Black Rock Pier, Half Moon Bay beach, the boat sheds and the beautiful beaches.
Also, our message was about eliminating graffiti in Bayside, but particularly in Black Rock. Together with Senior Sergeant Jim Jackson from Bayside police we presented to both the year 7-8 schools and the 9 to year 12.
Our message was clear. Don’t do graffiti! The Police suggested if you end up with a criminal record it will be with you for the rest of your life and it may prevent you getting a job, even part time. It could also prevent you going overseas, particularly to America.
Our competition was announced, and we were off and running. We donated a $500 prize for first place and 5 other $100 prizes for the finalists.
(If you haven’t already guessed who the big kid in the front row is…it is NHW 3193 President Philip Lovel AM}
Six of the best
The quality of the paintings was superb and choosing a winner was very difficult. We thought the entries were so good we later produced a Calendar for Christmas
The students and some residents entered the competition with some very excellent thought out sketches. We have included several in this presentation to show the quality and ideas presented.
The winner
We selected an entry by an 18-year-old year 12 art student, Ms Daiana Ingleton. We presented Daiana with her prize along with all the other 5 finalists at a full school assembly.
Thanks to our sponsors and for all the Community support
We had sponsors and supporters from a range of organizations including;
Bayside City Council
DULUX
Cellstruct Building Group
Black Rock Traders
Sandringham Secondary College
Bendigo Bank
United Energy
Shine Health
Bayside Peugeot
And several resident donors
We also hosted a major raffle involving all the local traders, and they participated by selling our raffle tickets and donating prizes. It was so successful that instead of having one major prize we had six, all with excellent value.
The work begins and it's not easy!
We were ready to go. Our first concern was the safety aspects of this location. We were working at heights, we were working in a fully operational local car park and we operated off a VicRoads controlled road, that being Bluff Road.
A further issue was that there was a 22,000-volt power line very close to our work site and this had to be safely worked around by a 6-metre safety zone or the power had to be turned off. This power cable connected onto the Shine Health building. Bob Lorraine successfully sought and got the wires protected whilst the artists prepared and painted to outlines of the mural.
Great support from DULUX and “Let’s Paint your Place”
We were very lucky to have the support of DULUX. They donated the whole range of paints and provided one of their painting contractors ‘lets paint your place” through the goodwill of Daniel Mueller the owner of the business to paint the undercoat for us which was a tremendous help.
On Monday 15th October 2018 work commenced at 3.00 pm as we had to work around the Shine Health business opening. So, the power was turned of at 3.00pm and we set to work under supervision of the power authorities. Daiana, Kylie and Bob with the help of a donated scissor life from the late Graeme Ainley’s business we painted until 11.00pm that night. Luckily the weather was perfect.
On Monday 9th November we started in earnest. On the job by 7.00am Daiana and Kylie prepared to outline of the mural off an A4 sheet and Bob Lorraine had sketched out the wall into 1 x 1 metre squares and Daiana had designed the mural on her computer and then this was transferred across metre by metre. Bob painted basic colours and assisted with the sketching under the strict supervision of Daiana. At the same time Bendigo Bank had sponsored CCTV at various locations to protect the mural and to provide other protection for the surrounding area. This was completed within two days.
From Monday 19th November painting continued for 4 straight days and Daiana never complained once. Always on the job early, never taking a break unless forced she displayed a strong work ethic, amazing for a young lady of her age.
We should also acknowledge all the other support people who manned to car park entrance, held the ladders and provided strong safety control. Well done to Alan Gaskell, Martyn Pickersgill, Geoff Elston, Margaret Ainley and Philip Lovel.
Philip and Geoff Elston completed a “Traffic Management and Stop/Slow” course to manage the car park traffic. All our wives chipped in to help. We had one rainy day that stopped us but by Sunday 27th November the final touches were applied to the mural.
Daniel Mueller then sent his men back to complete two coats of anti- graffiti paint which protects the mural from any graffiti vandals.
So well done to all who participated.
All credit to Bob Lorraine who provided the support right throughout the project. Also, to Daiana who put in a remarkable effort to basically do most of the design and painting control.
Today,the mural stands today as a great community effort.
Here is the final mural as it is today. Widely acclaimed and recognized in the local community
