Woolloomooloo Mural Project

Unique IDPC-000010Creator/ArchitectMerilyn Fairskye and Michiel DolkTypePlaceDescriptionThe Woolloomooloo Mural Project was conceived by activist artists Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk in 1979. They proposed a series of murals to be fixed to the faces of the pylons of the Eastern Suburbs Railway that would be based on topics relevant to the local community. The murals were commissioned by the Woolloomooloo Residents Action Group with support from the City and other authorities and organisations.

Several artists were invited to be involved in the project and by April 1981 the first murals were started in a warehouse on the corner of Harmer and Forbes Street in Woolloomooloo. In addition to Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk, artists included Robert Eadie, Tim Maguire, Vicki Vararessos, and Toby Zoates. On 10 July 1982 the completed project was unveiled at an opening launch event held at Tom Uren Square on the corner of Cathedral and Bourke Streets Woolloomooloo.

The history of the mural programme in Woolloomooloo is intertwined in the development of Green Bans movement the inner city of Sydney and community activism in Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross. This struggle against high density urban development also served as an important source of subject matter for the development of mural imagery.

The project consisted of eleven ‘permanent’ murals painted on Zincalume sheet with Berger Vogue paint and six temporary works painted on billboard paper with the intention to renew them annually. A total of seventeen (17) murals were completed (including the introductory panel). After a year the billboard murals on paper were rapidly deteriorating and Fairskye and Dolk realised the annual billboard idea was not viable. They commissioned another six murals to be permanently painted on the Zincalume sheets once the paper murals were removed. The second series was completed in 1984 with works by two of the original artists.

All the murals were removed by the NSW Government in 2005 due to their very poor condition and placed in storage. In 2008 the City responded to community concerns and commissioned an assessment of their condition, their significance, and options for reinstatement. It was determined that the renewable murals should not be retained and the historical murals, being of high historical significance, be retained, conserved and reinstated.

Following the decision to reinstate the historical murals the City consulted with the artists on the conservation of the eight historical panels. In keeping with the nature of the artworks as documents of a moment in time, the artists advised that they would not repaint the murals and that they were not to be retouched. Preservation works were undertaken by conservators to repair the panels in line with the artists instructions and the historical panels were reinstated.

Since their reinstatement in 2009 the City has monitored the condition of the murals on an ongoing basis and carried out annual stabilisation works. Given the materiality of the murals and the artist’s position it was understood that the lifespan of the artworks would be limited even with the City’s ongoing care as the painted surface continues to degrade over time.

The following eight of the sixteen murals were identified by Sydney Artefacts Conservation and heritage consultant Michael Bogle as being of high significance:
- The Waterfront
- Wallamullah Land of Plenty
- Victoria Street
- A Balcony View [1900-1982]
- FEDFA Green Bans
- BLF Green Bans
- Passing Through Customs
- Women of Woolloomooloo

The murals are very important to the history of Sydney, Woolloomooloo, and the local community. To ensure the legacy of these works is maintained the City has collected information about the history of these important works (oral histories, archival photography and video footage) that will be featured on the City’s website as part of communicating the artworks as part of the City Art collection.External linksWoolloomooloo MuralsInternal linkshttps://record.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/S065440.ref

Historic and Condition Survey Woolloomooloo Mural Project, 2008: https://record.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2022/290864.ref

Photograph

Boy Charlton Pool, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Installation of The Waterfront, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1982

Victoria Street, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1982

Installation of The Waterfront, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1982

Opening of the Woolloomooloo Murals, Tom Uren Square, Cathedral and Bourke Streets Woolloomooloo, 1982

Installation of the murals, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylons Woolloomooloo, 1982

Installation of The Waterfront, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1982

Boy Charlton Pool, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Shock Proof Domestic, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Can't be the Homard, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Go for It, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Wallamullah Land of Plenty, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

FEDFA Green Bans, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Victoria Street, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Passing Through Customs, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

A Balcony View, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Women of Woolloomooloo, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

BLF Green Bans, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

The Waterfront, Woolloomooloo Mural, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Not Nuclear, Woolloomooloo Mural Project title billboard, Harmer Street Woolloomooloo, 1982

Person to Person no. 2, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Person to Person no. 1, Woolloomooloo Mural, Eastern Suburbs Railway pylon Woolloomooloo, 1984

Go for It mural, Eastern Suburbs railway, Bourke Street Woolloomooloo, no date

BLF Green Bans, Woolloomooloo Mural, Sir John Young Crescent Woolloomooloo, 1982 (A-01209906)

Key dates and actions

Date constructed/createdBetween 1st April 1981 and 31st December 1984Date opened10th July 1982

Relationships

CollectionWoolloomoolooSeriesWoolloomooloo Mural Project Records, 1979-1982

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Woolloomooloo Mural Project