The Wellington Dam Mega Mural, Collie, Western Australia

 Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. A couple of years ago I blogged about the painting of the mega mural on the wall of the Wellington Dam in the Wellington National Park near Collie in Western Australia. You read more about that on these blogs - 

Painting the Wellington Dam wall mural - 2020

Wellington Dam Wall Mural and the Collie Mural Art Trail - 2022

Officially opened in February 2021, the massive 8,000 square metre Wellington Dam wall mural, thought to be the largest in the world, was painted by a single artist - Canadian born Guido Van Helten, who grew up in inner city Melbourne, Australia. (You can click on the link to read more about the project)

Renowned throughout the world for his photorealistic large scale murals, the dam wall mural, entitled “Reflections”, was inspired by local stories and photographs collected by Guido to reflect a sense of history and community.

The best way to appreciate the scale of the work on the 367m x 34metre wall face, is viewing from ground level via the walkway along Falcon Drive at the base of the wall (as seen in the first image above). 

However, unfortunately the bridge and walkway has been closed the last couple of years. The bridge is over 50 years old and needs to be replaced due to deterioration. The Water Corporation is currently designing the new bridge. You can see the bridge below the wall in this image. 

Falcon Road on the map below is the closed road and bridge. However, luckily for visitors the dam wall mural can be viewed from several viewpoints.

The first is the main lookout, a short walk down some stairs from the carpark near the Cafe. You can see the lookout and the view from the lookout in the next two images. 

The second is a new viewing platform a little lower down. You can either walk down the steps from the lookout, or drive around to The Quarry picnic area, and walk on the wheelchair and pram accessible walkway to the lower lookout. 

This is the view from the lower lookout.

The third way is from the dam wall itself. Continuing on along the walkway from the second lookout, the walkway takes you across the top of the dam wall. 

There is a high fence, but please be aware of the risks associated with walking across the wall. Also the gate closes automatically at 6pm. I don't think you would want to be stuck out there!

I had to stand on tip toes and hang my camera over the edge, to get these photos (make sure you have your camera strap around your neck or tight around your wrist!). Luckily I have an adjustable screen, so I could manoeuvre it so I could see what I was taking a photo of. It is a spectacular scene. You can walk right over to the other side of the dam wall. 

Above is the view from the other side, with the closed bridge to the left. This is part of the 86.7km multi day Wiilman Bilya loop walk track from Collie - which is an offshoot of the Perth to Albany 1,000km Bibbulmun Track. 

There are several walk trails in the Wellington National Park of different lengths and degrees of difficulty - as well as mountain bike trails. Walk Trails - Wellington National Park; Mountain Bike Trails, Wellington National Park-Trailforks.com

There is a fourth way - an even lower lookout, down Falcon Road, which hasn't been completed yet. I don't know when this will be open. 

We camped for a couple of nights at Potters Gorge, which is approx 2kms via a walk trail to the dam wall. 

This is a lovely quiet camp during the week, sheltered under trees near the dam. I've blogged about it before - 

Camping at Potters Gorge, Wellington Dam - 2017

Camping and bushwalking at Potters Gorge - 2022

While we were there we walked from the camp to the dam wall (on the Sika trail), and also part way along the Sika Trail in the other direction, linking into the Wiilman Bilya trail.  - which is a newer trail we hadn't done before. 

There were not many wildflowers around when we were at the Dam, but we did find a couple of clumps of one of the Bunny Orchid varieties. 

For more information:

Explore Parks - Wellington National Park

AllTrails - Wellington National Park trails

Explore Parks - Wellington Dam

RAC - The Story behind the Wellington Dam Mural

Guido Van Helten.com/projects - and -  Wellington Dam Project (for lots of background information about the project - scroll to the end to see a short video). 

That's it from me for today. Do you like murals? Do you have any near where you live. Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
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Wellington Dam wall mural, and the Collie mural art trail, Western Australia

 Hi everyone. I hope you are doing well. I realised last week when I posted about our little 2 day getaway at Potters Gorge at Wellington Dam that I hadn't finished telling you the story which I started in November 2020 about the painting of the Wellington Dam wall  We went up to the dam several times during the painting of the mural, so I thought I should finish the story I started in 2020. 

Officially opened in February 2021, the massive 8,000 square metre Wellington Dam wall mural, thought to be the largest in the world painted by a single artist, is a sight not to be missed.

The dam wall mural is the work of internationally acclaimed Canadian born artist, Guido Van Helten who grew up in inner city Melbourne.  Renowned throughout the world for his photorealistic large scale murals, Guido was influenced at a young age by traditional graffiti and was introduced to aerosol painting at a young age.

Entitled “Reflections” the dam wall mural has been inspired by local stories and photographs collected by Guido to reflect a sense of history and community.  For three weeks before he started on the project Guido met with people in Collie, asked about their lives, their connections with the dam, and collected their photos. 

Aboriginal culture, the natural environment and settlement history are incorporated into the work. Children are central, none are looking at the camera, they are playing and interacting with the water. 

The massive artwork which commenced in November 2020 required a specially designed scaffolding platform.  The mechanical swing-stage had to be raised and lowered as the mural was painted, and needed to be dismantled to move across the wall. Abseiling was used for cleaning and applying the base coat.

The pictures were drawn and mapped onto a grid to assist Guido to translate his designs from concept to the scaled mega-mural.

Guido said he did not know how much paint had been used but said the key to coping with such a large piece of work was organisation. "You need a good plan to put it all together…It took all my waking hours”.

To best appreciate the scale of the work on the 367m x 34metre wall face, I suggest viewing from ground level via the walkway along Falcon Drive at the base of the wall (where these photos you see were taken), although access to the bridge and walkway is temporaily closed due to upgrades being carried out on the bridge. 

You can also see the overall view from the lookout above where there are information panels.  We visited several times while the work was in progress. From the lookout we had a closer view of Guido working. We could see him painting with a large paint brush and referring to a plan in his hand as he worked. 

Funded by the state government, the mural is part of a plan to diversify the economy of the traditional coal-mining town and bring visitors to the Collie region, 200kms south east of Perth. The Wellington dam is 30 kilometres from Collie. 

The mural is the centrepiece of the new Collie Mural Trail which includes 37 murals through the town of Collie. The Trail showcases the talents of local and leading Australia artists, and tells stories about the Collie River valley’s living heritage and history. A trail map can be downloaded or collected from the Collie Visitor Information Centre on Throssell Street, so this is the best place to start. Check out the Collie Railway Museum while you are there. 

One of the mural trail project managers and artists is Andrew Frazer from Bunbury. "The trail is part of a larger vision of Collie being a trail town, which extends into mountain biking and hiking and a whole heap of outdoor experiences," he said. "Having art in public places allows people to engage with this creativity in a way that perhaps they haven't previously." Andrew worked on several pieces including The Endless Adventure collaboration with Collie youth.

The mural art trail reflects indigenous culture, history, youth, mining, industry and recreation. It is certainly worth a few hours strolling around the town looking at the art works. Make a day to visit to the dam and Collie. 

QR codes adjacent to each mural give you more information on the pieces and the artists. Children may enjoy searching for the 12 brush-tailed phascogales hiding around the town’s walls. 

Find out more by clicking on these links -

Collie Mural Trail

Wellington Dam mural

You might also like:

ReDiscover Bunbury street art

Silo art trail, Western Australia

Thank you so much for stopping by. I love street art. Do you? Perhaps you could tell us about what you may have in your area in your comments. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

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Painting the Wellington Dam wall mural, Western Australia

 On Sunday we took a drive out through the beautiful Ferguson Valley to Wellington Dam in the Collie Hills to see the work in progress on the new HUGE mural being painted on the 367m x 34m wall face of the Wellington Dam, a surface area of more than 12,000 square metres. The mural is being created by Canberra born artist Guido Van Helton, who is renowned throughout the world for his photorealistic large scale murals. The mural is reputed to become the largest mural in the world painted by a single artist. Guido's work is amazing, you can see more of it here: https://www.guidovanhelten.com/projects

The wall will be the centrepiece of the new Collie Mural Trail which will include five additional murals, painted by five selected artists throughout the town of Collie. 

The work on the wall is accessed by a mechanical swing-stage which can be raised and lowered, however will need to be dismantled to move across the wall. 

For three weeks before he started on the project Guido met with people in Collie, asked about their lives, looked through their photo albums and collected photos. South West Times Press Reader

Guido Van Helton -  Our WA Parks - lead artist appointed to mega mural

First we looked at the wall from the lower level. From here you can really see the scale of the work. It will be amazing to visit a few times to see the work progress. 

About half way along the wall you can see where Guido has started sketches for another part of the mural. It really astounds me how these artists can work to such a large scale and get the proportions so correct, especially when he can't stand back and look. 

After viewing from the bottom we went up to the lookout for another view. From here we could have a closer view of Guido working. In the pic below you can see him painting with a large paint brush. He was also working with a paint sprayer. The wall surface is prepared before the work on the actual mural begins. 

It is midway between spring and summer here, so a good time to work - although it is raining here today! 

In the photo below can you see the piece of paper in his left hand? This is a photo he is referring to as he works. 

It truly is an amazing project and I look forward to seeing the final result in a few months, and bringing you more photos. 

Fore more information on this project (if you have questions about the paint being used refer here): Collie Mural Art Project

The Wellington Dam is located within the 17,000 hectare Wellington National Park, consisting of Karri, Jarrah and Marri forests surrounding the Collie River Valley.

Built in 1933, the Wellington Dam wall formed part of the Government public works program, designed to create hundreds of jobs for people during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. 

In 1990 the Wellington dam was discontinued as the primary source of potable water in the region. The State government announced in 2009 a $40 million package to upgrade the wall to today’s engineering standards. The dam wall is 34 metres high and 367 metres wide. The area is popular for recreation, walk and bike trails and camping at two designated camping areas, as well as water skiing and canoeing. 

We camped at Potter's Gorge at Wellington Dam a few years ago and went bushwalking on some of the trails. It really is a fabulous place to bush camp. I would really like to do this again.

Yesterday we just sat and had morning tea in the picnic area. Lots of people had their boats out enjoying the dam. It was certainly a lovely day for it - unlike the rainy day we have here today.

And of course there always has to be wildflowers. These pea flowers were glorious.

Mega murals are an immerging trend throughout the world, on buildings, grain silos, walls, roof tops and dam walls. They add vibrancy to a town or city and encourage people to stop and look. We have lots in Australia. You can see more about them in Australia here - Australian Silo Art Trail

You can read a few of my blog posts about a few places they can be explored in Western Australia by clicking on the links here: 

Rediscover street art Bunbury, Western Australia

Explore the painted silos art trail - Western Australia

Farm gate art trail, Ravensthorpe, Western Australia

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the start of the mega mural today. Do you have wall murals where you live? Perhaps you would like to tell us about them in your comments.

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons 
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
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Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
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Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.