’It reflects home life of the time’

Southwest Victorian school alumni have restored a beloved mural after 60 years. Read more about its journey across Australia and back to Carranballac.

A small Victorian community has brought new life to a beloved school mural, six decades after its first unveiling.

More than 125 people at Carranballac, near Skipton, have unveiled and celebrated a restored mural that was first created for the Carranballac State School No 3876’s 50th anniversary in 1964.

Elaine Anderson and John Liston with the Carranballac Mural Pictures: Zoe Phillips

Mural project co-ordinator Elaine Anderson said the school closed in 1978, and the mural had been stored in several places before alumni managed to remake it.

“It’s a very well-travelled mural,” she said.

“It reflects home life of the time because it’s made with plates, of pale green, blue and pink, beer bottles and medicine bottles.”

Local farmer John Liston rescued the mural after the school’s closure and stored it in his farm’s woolshed for several years.

“I was there when it was made. As kids we had to bring our broken crockery, I was about Grade Two,” he said.

“They were ripping the school apart to move to a different location, and my mother and I thought we better grab the mural.”

He said he stored the mural for about 10-12 years before it went to the town’s new hall.

Ms Anderson said it was sent to her home in Townsville 12 months ago to begin restoration, and she engaged two mosaic artists for advice as well as the local progress association.

It was aligned, mounted and framed at Ararat before past students attached a variety of pebbles, including the originals, at a working bee.

“I got goosebumps, I got all emotional, it was a long process and seeing those pieces of crockery reminded me of our childhood,” Ms Anderson said.

Ms Anderson said it was sent to her home in Townsville 12 months ago to begin restoration.

Mr Liston said it looked “exactly the same”, and had included pebbles from a nearby road where several soldier settlement families lived.

Past teacher Mary Forsythe-Cleary, who co-ordinated the mural in 1964, revealed it at the recent event, while former student Harry Waldron, aged 98, unveiled a plaque explaining its history.

Carranballac State School mural in 1964, Mary Forsythe-Cleary pictured left. Picture: Supplied

Ms Anderson said plans were in process for the mural’s future, and hoped it would go to a local school for preservation.

“The mural has survived 60 years, despite what the weather tried to do with it and to it, it’s survived and I want it to keep on going,” she said.