Kapunda Town History Mural awarded Community Project of the Year

Light Regional Council has announced that the Town History Mural has been awarded the Council’s “Community Project of the Year”. The mural has also been shortlisted in the Australian Street Awards.
2024 Citizen of the Year Award Winners Announced

Jon Povey recorded this video on the announcement:

Murals entered in the Australian Street Art Awards

Two entries in the Australian Street Art Awards have been submitted.
The ‘re-creation’ of the original ‘Town Mural’

and the first of the Mural Town Project murals, ‘The Post Office Mural’.

We will have to wait until next March to see the winners and all the wonderful entries from around Australia!

Town History Mural Now Installed

It has taken 100s of hours of work by volunteers, but the mural depicting various places and characters that have been significant in the history and culture of Kapunda has now been installed behind the Visitor Information Centre (Thompson Building).

The mural is the work of 3 local artists, Tony Hersey, Maxine Donald and Jon Povey.

The installation was performed by Brenton and Anthony Diener.

Town History Mural is progressing

The Town Mural ‘re-creation’ is moving along nicely.

KCG volunteer and artist Tony Hersey is doing this section (and other parts) of the mural. Tony also did the Military Mural near the memorial in Main St.

The Rawady brothers ran a deli opposite the Post Office for many years and were significant identities in the town.

The Hawke Foundry were particularly noted for their lacework, weighbridges and other items that you can see in the museum in Hill St.

The Celtic Festival until its recent demise, was a highlight of the year in Kapunda. This picture shows a street parade coming down Main St, with the North Kapunda hotel on the right (the dark building), and then the single story IGA and butcher’s shop closer to the viewer. This latter building has now been demolished to provide space for the Town Square. The Post Office has also been replaced.

Stage one of “History Mural” completed

We are very happy to report that the first half of the town ‘History Mural’ has now been redone. It has been slightly ‘condensed’ in size to fit the space where we hope it will be placed (subject to LRC approval). For those who remember, the old mural was rather faded and bluish (after a long life) so this version looks very colourful and different. Having been done by different artists it is also in a bit different style. However, be assured that when erected an information board will fully explain the original story and the people who contributed to both the original and the replacement.
The other half will be started in October

Lucas Street Mural awarded Best External Mural

The judges at the 2020 Australian Street Art Awards have judged Danny Menzel’s mural the “Best External Mural”.

Danny and his son Harry attended the presentation evening at the Sunshine Coast last week.

The judges said that “The mural is contributing significantly to making Australia a more vibrant, creative and interesting country – somewhere visitors will want to explore more keenly”.

They went on to say “We love that tourists can look into the eyes of people who made significant contributions to South Australia…. The fact that 15 local volunteers pulled together to create this sizeable mural under the experienced guidance of an artist it witness to the pride Kapunda residents obviously feel about the place their town placed in forging an economically triumphant South Australia”

Kapunda mural in National Spotlight

Kapunda’s Lucas Street mural has been named one of the best public art experiences in Australia after being shortlisted for the 2020 Australian Street Art Awards’ Best External Mural.

Mural artist Danny Menzel and his band of dedicated volunteers from the Kapunda Mural Town Project will be checking if their diaries are clear for the awards ceremony on March 2 on the Sunshine Coast where the winners will be announced.

Awards director Liz Rivers highlights just how important the awards are in showcasing towns like Kapunda to a national audience. “Australia has a long history of creating sculptures, monuments and other street art that is captivating to visitors. However, until two years ago there was no way of rewarding towns and precincts that created these art-related experiences for visitors. The Australian Street Art Awards has remedied that shortcoming,” she said.

The left half of the mural is a recreation of an 1871 photograph of store owner Robert Brewster and his family alongside a local family enjoying a car ride circa 1910, but it was the right-hand half of the mural that really impressed the judges.

“We love that this section is an artistic reproduction of the Lord Palmerston Hotel and J. Harden Confectionery building in the exact location where those businesses once stood, even though the original building was demolished in 1968,” the judges said.

The Kapunda Mural Town project also received accolades at the Light Regional Council’s Australia Day awards this year, taking out Community Project of the Year.