In September 2006, speakers at The Cross Art Projects, including eminent architect Andrew Andersons and George Alexander senior education officer at the Art Gallery of NSW and leading artists called for action. They raised the alarm about the general neglect of public artworks, including recently installed works.

In August 2005, a local artist warned Council that at least two of the historic Woolloomooloo murals had disappeared. (Located under the Eastern Suburbs railway pass in Woolloomooloo near the John Passmore museum on Sir John Young Crescent.) Loma Bridge’s letter noted that the remaining sixteen Woolloomooloo murals were in appalling condition covered in birdshit and graffiti.

DRAG followed up in February 2006 with a letter to City of Sydney Council noting the disappearance and negligent maintenance. Council was asked who removed them, where they might have gone and why? There was no reply. When Councillor Michael Lee asked a question, the CEO and Mayor said they were removed for restoration. In late 2008 the condition is now critical.

The Eastern Suburbs rail viaduct pylons are a mural gallery of Woolloomooloo’s history. They commemorate the Green Bans and the residents’ fight to save The ‘Loo from demolition for high-rise. Jack Mundey, secretary of the Builders’ Laborers Federation and a key organizer, created the ‘Green Bans’ concept. He received an Order Of Australia medal for his services to the urban and natural environment. The murals are part of the ‘Peoples’ Park’ project initiated by artist Brenda Humble in 1977 for Residents of Woolloomooloo.

The famous Woolloomooloo Green Bans Murals (1982) are divided into two sections. Seven panels were designed as renewable billboards and the History Murals (8 panels) as permanent artworks (painted by Michiel Dolk and Merilyn Fairskye). Woolloomooloo school kids painted the sixteenth panel. Artists: Michiel Dolk, Merilyn Fairskye, Robert Eadie, Bob Clutterbuck, Angela Gee, Tim Maguire, Ruth Waller, Toby Zoates, Robin Hecks and Grahame Kime. The project was assisted by Sydney City Council, Australia Council, NSW Premiers Department, NSW Housing Commission, Builders Labourers Federation and State Rail. Photos courtesy Matthias Tomczak (See all 16 murals at: woolloomooloomurals.blogspot.com)

In November 2008 Council plans to ‘upgrade’ the Peoples’ Park. But fails to address the conservation and restoration of these significant artworks.

The Woolloomooloo murals are divided into two sections. Seven panels were designed as renewable billboards and the History Murals (8 panels) as permanent artworks (painted by Michiel Dolk and Merilyn Fairskye). Woolloomooloo school kids painted the sixteenth panel.

Artists involved are: Michiel Dolk, Merilyn Fairskye, Robert Eadie, Bob Clutterbuck, Angela Gee, Tim Maguire, Ruth Waller, Toby Zoates, Robin Hecks and Grahame Kime. The project was assisted by Sydney City Council, Australia Council, NSW Premiers Department, NSW Housing Commission, Builders Laborers Federation and State Rail.

Even contemporary works in council’s custody are deteriorated. Several works in City of Sydney’s Sculpture Walk have not been maintained for several years. These include Anne Graham’s ‘Passage’ (2000) in Martin Place outside the Reserve Bank, a group of three dish-shaped fountains with a periodic spray of mist and Louise Fowler Smith’s neon embedded in footpaths to mark the route of the Tank Stream near Circular Quay. No mist, no neon.

Peter McGregor (MW Architects) designed the popular light installations in Llankelly Place, Kings Cross and the Chinatown lights in Sussex Street. Sadly, in the fine-grained, pedestrian laneway of Llankelly Place, Council has not replaced bulbs in the eleven light screens running along the length of the laneway. The red to amber to green colour sequence is barely recognizable (it shifts slowly from red on Darlinghurst Road to green at the Springfield Gardens end).

Other heritage murals in the City of Sydney are shabby, peeling and neglected: notably the International Women’s year Mural (1982) on St Mary’s Road (by Marie McMahon, Carole Ruff and others) and the ‘40,000 Years’ mural on Redfern station landbridge.

During the late 1990s, Mayor Frank Sartor employed highly respected curators (Sally Couacaud and Kate Davidson) working at senior levels in the City Projects department. This policy worked. Melbourne City and Brisbane City Councils have a sophisticated public art policy implemented by qualified staff that includes ongoing maintenance and conservation. Council’s focus appears to be on promotional festivals at the expense of cultural content. To not care for and conserve these artworks is vandalism.

back to top