A Disappearing Wall

KGV mural

These are photographs from a space designed by community. It took a handful of individuals to have the right vision for what to do with a 15m high concrete wall and it took hearts of an entire a community and a visionary mural artist to make it happen.

Painted in the early 1980s, the mural is a trompe l’oeil, or optical illusion to make the western wall of the recreation centre ‘disappear’.

In May 1980 the City of Sydney redeveloped the King George V Recreation Centre, which first opened in 1937. Despite the continued use of the recreational facilities at the centre, the concrete wall (15m high, 100m long and owned by the Department of Main Roads) was an oppressive backdrop to it.

RD Stringer, the director of parks and civic affairs at the time, suggested the centre could be enriched by using the wall as the base for a large mural that would refer to the local area’s character.

On 25 May 1981 the City of Sydney gave approval to a proposal to paint a community mural on the wall behind the centre. Peter Day¹, a community artist and muralist, was commissioned on 12 October 1981 to undertake the mural. His brief included involving the local community in planning and designing the mural.

Day completed his community consultation in May 1982 and the design of the proposed mural was approved on 15 November 1982. Painting began later that month and the mural was unveiled in February 1983.²

I’ve been using those stairs when my bridge walk from Kirribilli ended there. This vision put me a smile on my face every single time I saw it. Can you imagine how many youngsters played sports in this field surrounded by visions of a dream; a circus, a hot air balloon, animals and people enjoying their day in the open.

KGV mural is 43 years old. It is constant but changing. It shows traces of weather’s beating, yet being old is part of its charm. It shows it’s been with us for a long time as a meaningful gesture; a gesture of people’s own making.

Thinking big should not mean to ask big. It is ideas that connect people that matters most, and ideas can be down to earth with a footnote that just says “made with love”.

1. Peter Day - the artist

2. KGV mural - City of Sydney