The Art of Connection
Leonie Scoffern shares the stories of the Wellington Dam Mural
The Wellington Dam Mural
Whilst a picture may paint a thousand words, there are so many more stories that can be heard when connecting with local communities… especially when that picture is 367m wide and 34m tall!
In June earlier this year, I went on my first TLG Rural Program to Allanson Primary School, located just outside the small town of Collie. I’ve been “Down South” as Perth locals fondly refer to it, countless times growing up, but I’ve never taken on the opportunity to immerse myself in a rural community quite like I did with the TLG Rural Program. Having the chance to interact with and get amongst the community whilst tutoring students was a really insightful experience as not only do students learn whilst on programs, so do the volunteers.
As part of our after-school activities, a group of parents and teachers from the school drove us around Collie to discover more about the town and hear their stories. Most notably, we visited the Wellington Dam which had recently been painted by Guido Van Helten in 2021, making it the largest dam mural in the world. Seeing this in person was incredible in itself, but what really impressed me was the way this mural connected the community together. After speaking with Leonie Scoffern, who was the Shire Councillor representative working alongside Guido at the time, I learned a lot more about Collie through hearing the stories behind these artworks.
Leonie stated that, “Guido would always engage with the community and immerse himself amongst it to get a better understanding of place and people… Guido obviously cares about the places that he paints about, and he did a lot of historical search through the Collie museum and the historical society.”
This commitment to the community was really evident in the mural and the selected images that were incorporated into the artwork. Leonie shared that she helped source images for the mural after contacting one of her friends, Danielle Cain, who also happened to be one of the teachers who showed us around Collie.
“I phoned Danielle and I said, ‘you know those photos you posted on Facebook a little while ago about your kids, would you be interested in bringing them in to show Guido?’ and she did immediately. So, two of her images got on the wall actually, which is quite funny because out of all the photos that Guido looked at, two were Danielle’s.”
Each of the images included in the mural all had a connection to the place, past and people of Collie with some images dating back to 1890, showing a variety of people enjoying themselves at Wellington National Park or the dam wall itself. And after visiting the location, I definitely agree with Leonie in saying, “It’s a place where community members go because it’s such a beautiful natural environment where we can go to unwind and connect with nature.”
But the Wellington Dam is not the only mural in Collie as there are around 40 murals scattered throughout the country town as part of the Collie Mural Trail. Leonie expressed that, “each mural in Collie has got a story… they’re all quite diverse and different, you can take something away from each and every one of them.” Each mural portrays different windows into Collie’s past showcasing the town’s involvement in wars, the former Theatre Royal, the wildlife surrounding the Collie River Valley and the town’s Indigenous history.
For instance, one mural painted on the wall of the Collie Shire Office by the infamous Shakey (Jacob Butler) remains a very meaningful piece for the community. It depicts Aboriginal community members and leaders at Minninup Pool which is an extremely sacred site for the local Noongar people of the Gnaala Karla Booja region of the South West as it is the resting place of the Ngangungudditj Walgu or the hairy faced snake. As Leonie says, “to hear and learn about these stories, especially Indigenous stories, because they are such amazing storytellers, really pulls on the heartstrings,” and I’ve found that there’s so much more to be discovered beyond the paintings themselves.
I believe that these connections to the community align strongly with TLG’s core values of bringing people together exemplifying the ways TLG not only creates communities amongst its volunteers, but also connects volunteers with interconnected communities. From my own personal perspective, this experience really helped me realise the importance of community, plus, as a student studying a Bachelor of Arts, experiencing the arts and culture of Collie has opened my eyes to the ways community and art are crucially interconnected. As Leonie says, “a lot of the images around Collie bring out emotion in me and I assume probably in other people as well because they’re more than just a painted wall, it’s something really meaningful, which is just incredible.”
Written by Will Lawler
Allanson Primary School 2023 Winter Rural Program Tutors At The Wellington Dam