Benalla mural looking brand new after multi-year refurb

By 1985 Judy Lorraine had been hired as the artist in residence, tasked with overseeing the project.

Repurposing bricks from an old building that stood above where the mural is now, on Mair St, local artists and collaborators were instrumental in seeing the project through to completion.

And it must have been a labour of love, as the project took 25 years to complete, being officially opened in 2010.

The ceramic mural is many things. It’s an official part of Benalla Art Gallery’s collection, and a community space utilised for the Benalla Festival and the Rose City’s Diwali celebrations.

It’s a musical instrument, with locals often seen playing the ‘thongophone’, which consists of pipes built into the structure than can be hit with thongs (or any sandals) to create musical notes.

There were, however, some small issues that came up, many years after it was completed, that had been getting worse over time.

The adhesive used to hold the tiles in place, while top of the range at the time, had deteriorated, leading to some falling from the structure.

There were also issues with water leaking into the mural, weakening some of its internal structure.

And just to add another hurdle to the restoration project, when Penny and her team arrived on site in 2024, the mural was under a metre of water, a result of the extensive flooding throughout Victoria that year.

“The whole mural was flooded,” she said.

“In a way, that was good to see because it showed the issues the mural was facing.”

Penny said her plans for how to deal with water ingress were finalised in that moment.

“To deal with that we’ve created new drainage holes around the upper terrace so it drains a lot better.

“I had the idea to make gargoyles to cover over the drainage pipes because they were white and they stood out.

“So Regina Laity-Plex, who's one of the original mural artists, was commissioned to make new gargoyles.

“They look fabulous, and we’re really thrilled that Regina could be involved in this project.”

Penny has been assisted by a highly qualified team, including project conservator Helen Gill and specialist heritage tiler Michael Hathaway — who were both on site helping to finish the restoration on Friday, October 16.

“It’s just been an absolute delight to work on the mural,” Penny said.

“We really needed to make it safe again. It’s had the fence around it for years because of the risk of large tiles falling off.

“Once we finish today, the fencing will be gone, and it’ll be safe for the community again, which is just brilliant.”