Heart of the Nation: Surfers Paradise 4217

A SIGN from God led David Mulder to become a human statue in Surfers Paradise.

surfers paradise

A SIGN from God led David Mulder to become a human statue in Surfers Paradise.

In 2008, he and his wife were racking their brains for a way to fund their first missionary trip to India. With five kids at home, his job as a maintenance man covered the bills but no more. That's when his bible fell open at Psalm 46:10 - "Be still, and know that I am God." Hmmm, he thought. Be still. He went down to Cavill Avenue in the flowing white robes that he'd worn to his church's Christmas pageant, posed like a statue, and coins rattled into his tin like manna from heaven. Within six months he was spreading the gospel to poor villagers in India.

The 51-year-old Gold Coast native has expanded his routine since then. The cowboy, pictured, is one of a dozen characters he performs in Surfers and at country shows. His schtick is to simply "lock in position"; the thrill for punters, he says, is in trying to work out if he's a real person. That's quite a feat, given it's just ordinary grey house paint on his outfit.

Standing still for two-hour shifts isn't as easy as you'd think. On hot days he'll sweat off 1.5kg, and he might have ants crawling down his neck or flies buzzing his face. It requires discipline. He learnt all about that in the army - after school he served eight years as an infantryman with 8/9 RAR - but what's harder to deal with are the drunks. He's had blokes kick him in the groin, blow pepper up his nose; one cheeky bugger even graffitied his back. Last month, he snapped and walloped a young man who'd been tormenting him; the YouTube clip went viral.

Andrea, his wife of 31 years, is always there in the background. He'll give her a signal if he needs attention, but communication is limited to her guessing what might be wrong (e.g. "Is there sweat in your eyes?"), and him grunting for "yes". It sounds like a measure of how serious he is about staying in character, but there's a more compelling reason: the thick face-paint she applies means his lips are sealed shut. "Actually," says Andrea, "that's a pretty good tip for a happy marriage."