Moon Festival
by Sharon Billinge, 2019
Fox Lane, Ashfield

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

At 14 metres high and 9 metres wide, this mural is painted over two adjoining tall brick and render walls. Four people are grouped together around two spheres, one glowing a warm orange light, and another glowing a soft red light. Their large faces are smiling and are illuminated from the spheres below. The whole colour palette is very warm, the mural painted using only using purples, reds, browns, pinks and oranges.

On the left is a young girl. She has dark straight hair falling to her shoulders, which gently frames her face. Her large almond shaped eyes have large dark brown pupils, which are looking straight ahead at the viewer on the street. She wears a fuchsia long sleeve turtleneck, which is interrupted at the chest by a white steel door gaining entry into the building.

The mural continues across the right wall. To the young girl's left is an older Asian woman wearing thin rimmed glasses, a brown woollen crochet hat, a burgundy skivvy and black v-necked jumper. She glances downwards at the large orange sphere with an open-mouthed expression.

To her left is another woman, who is painted the largest of the group. She has a wide open smile, looking out to the rest of the setting. Adorning her head is a band of purple flowers. She wears a detailed purple blouse, with a large embroidered collar with scalloped edges. On top of her blouse she wears a black vest with a red trim and a low cut neckline. Three strings of a red beaded necklace drape over her blouse and vest.

On the far right side of mural is the fourth person. It is a young Asian man, his eyes looking downward directly at the orange sphere. It brightly illuminates his face. He wears a black hat with brown decoration and a traditional red Chinese tunic buttoned top. He is also smiling.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Moon Festival

Jonno Kong – King of the Park
by Mulga, 2022
Johnson Park, Dulwich Hill

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

Jonno Kong – King of the Park is a large head and shoulders portrait painted on the back wall of a brick building backing onto the park. The wall is 9 metres wide and 7 metres high.

Jonno is a cartoon-like figure with bright pink hair and beard, and a yellow face with a slim black curled moustache above his grinning mouth. He wears bright blue heart-shaped sunglasses with two small palm trees painted onto each lens, and a dangling guitar-shaped earring in his ear. On his head is a lilac-coloured bucket hat the top of which is cut off by the top of the wall. The hat is printed with orange basketballs, red cricket balls and black and white soccer balls which reference the games which are played in the park. His pale blue open-necked shirt is also patterned but with a print of foxes and chickens which reference the local feral foxes that prey upon backyard chickens.

A kookaburra which is a regular visitor to the park sits on Jonno's shoulder reaching to the bottom of his hat. The bird is coloured yellow, pink and blue and it also wears sunglasses which are black-rimmed with bright green lenses each with the silhouette of two small palm trees on them. Jonno and the kookaburra both look out to the right.

The background of the portrait is smoothly painted with a series of broad wavy lines of alternating pale and dark pink. They fan out from behind Jonno to the edges of the mural.

The portrait of Jonno Kong, with a clashingly vibrant palette of pinks, yellows and purples shows an arresting, cheerful and guardian of the park.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Jonno Kong – King of the Park

I See You Ashfield
by Guido Van Helton, 2016
283 Liverpool Road, Ashfield

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This mural of the heads of two elderly residents of Ashfield is painted onto the side wall of a three storey building in Ashfield’s busy Liverpool Street. An adjoining two storey building partially obscures the view of the mural even though the painting is 50 metres wide and 20 metres high.

The brick wall of the building is painted cream and the portraits which are copied from old black and white photographs are delicately painted in sepia, just like old photos.

On the left is the face of an elderly woman, cropped along the top just above her eye brows and below her chin. She is turned slightly to the left but her eyes look down and to the right. Her grey hair is long and wispy and her facial expression appears to be friendly and slightly quizzical. A protruding vertical chimney on the building runs down the left side of her face and two small rectangular windows are incorporated into the portrait. One is placed on the right corner of her slightly pursed mouth and the other is almost hidden in her hair.

On the right is the face of an elderly man, similarly cropped above the eyebrows. He wears glasses and faces to the front but like the woman he looks down and to the right. He also has a chimney running down the left side of his face but it is painted as part of the mural. Below his right spectacle lens is a six-panel window, one of four built into the wall and which is as large as the lens of his glasses. The man seems to be amused and is smiling gently.

The portraits are painted loosely in soft shades of black, grey and white with occasional touches of light brown. The couple seem to float like clouds above the street, only partly visible at times, and they give the impression of being kind and caring, but not intrusive members of the community below them.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

I See You Ashfield

Housing Bubble
by Fintan Magee, 2015
52-60 Enmore Road, Newtown

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This tall and thin mural is painted on a large rendered cement wall of the Urban Hotel. It is 6 metres wide by 24 metres high.

From the bottom up, a young man in his 30s is side profile crouching on his hands and knees. His feet are out of frame and his outstretched hands lie flat on the ground. He wears stonewash jeans and a blue and green loose striped hoodie. He has thick reddish brown hair swept back.  His head is tilted up and he is looking forward.

Kneeling on his back is a young woman with auburn shoulder length hair. She wears a rust-coloured long sleeve top, with sleeves which flare slightly at the wrists. She has on a loose fitting long grey skirt with yellow horizontal stripes, which is tucked under her knees as she kneels on the mans back. Closed brown shoes tuck underneath her bottom, and press into the man's lower back.

The woman is looking upward in a distant gaze, and she extends her arms and hands forward at a 90 degree angle. Just above her upturned hands floats a small two-storey federation terrace house. It is about the size of her head. Timber beams fall away under the house as if it has just been ripped up from its plot. The terrace is suspended in the air, held up by string to a cluster of four blue helium balloons.

Above the young woman’s head is a line drawing of an archery arrow flying horizontally to the right. Its sharp tip is just centimetres from one of the balloons.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Housing Bubble

Goolay'yari
by David Cragg, 2021
57 Carrington Road, Marrickville

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

Goolay'ari is another name for the Cooks River. This mural features many local birds native to the area. It is painted on a wall 25 metres wide by 1.5 metres high. It runs along the bottom of a large contemporary building between the pavement and a continuous horizontal row of dark windows, each covered with a black metal fly screen.

A paperbark tree grows at the side of the pavement half way along the mural and casts shade on the wall. It is a night scene and the background concrete is painted either matte black or dark blue. At the far left of the mural is the large head and neck of a pelican, facing left with the curved tip of its beak almost touching the edge of the wall. The realistic head fills the wall from top to bottom and the bill is double the size. The eye with its black pupil and yellow iris stands out against the swirls and dots of white paint that indicate the feathers. The bill is pale pink with outlines of yellow along the top. The neck curves under to support the long bill.

Swirls of purple and orange grevilleas and lines of triangular turquoise leaves stream around the pelican. The background is a dark starry night sky. Moving to the right of the pelican, three slim trees stretch their turquoise canopy to the top of the mural while fleshy green and orange plants and pointed grasses grow up from the ground. A black and yellow cockatoo flies sideways with its tail spread out to reveal its yellow feathers. Its outstretched wing tips meet the top of the mural. Here, the background changes to black. Two bats, loosely outlined in white paint, fly between more purple and orange spirals and turquoise flowers. They head towards a slim wading bird. It’s a a curlew, with mottled brown plumage and a long downward curving beak. It stands on one leg in the blue green water. The background returns to a starry sky. Sprigs of wattle with bright yellow balls grow in clusters in-between curved leaves of vibrant blue.

A small fairy wren flaunts his brilliant plumage as he sits on a branch facing the curlew. To the right of the wren is a large fluffy white ibis next to a clump of orange bullrushes growing out of the water. The last portion of the mural returns to the black background and features two more birds. On the left is a red wattle bird, showing his chest of brown feathers flecked with grey. He looks to the right through a thicket of blue flowers, green leaves and red and orange tendrils to a plump bird sitting on a branch looking back at him. This spotted yellow pardalote has a plump yellow body, speckled brown wings that merge into black with white spots to match the patch on the top of his head.

The many birds in combination with colourful and imaginative plants makes a bright and cheerful mural celebrating local flora and fauna along Goolay'yari.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Goolay'yari

Goal!
by Lotte Alexis, 2021
404 Young Street, Annandale

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This mural is painted on the back wall of a brick garage across the road from a fenced playing field in Annandale. It is 5 metres wide by 4.5 metres high and depicts two girls playing soccer.

The background of the mural is divided into three roughly equal horizontal bands of colour: blue on top, bright green in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The dividing lines are undulating and the background represents a soccer pitch.

Both girls are running towards the centre, one from the left and one from the right.

The one on the left is thin and cartoonish with bendy banana arms and legs pumping as she runs forwards. Her long black hair streams out behind her almost to the top of the mural while her left foot pushes off the ground. The player on the right is stockier and has both feet off the ground as she jumps sideways in the air, elbows bent and head turned away from us.

Both girls wear the same uniform: pink short-sleeved top, black shorts, pink and white knee-length socks and black boots.

A solid triangle of white fills the centre of the mural. It emanates from a black and white soccer ball in the top right corner. It widens as it stretches down and across the mural to the left, cutting across half of each player and ending in a jagged edge near the bottom of the mural. 

The white triangle of light changes the colour of the girls and their uniforms turning pink into purple and black to turquoise. This adds a surreal aspect to the art work and highlights the fun and companionship of sport.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Goal!

Friends for Life
by Kelly Wallwork, 2022
Leichhardt Wanderers Clubhouse, Canal Road

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

There are three walls for this artwork painted on the Leichhardt Wanderers clubhouse.

The largest is painted on the weatherboard wall under the clubhouse awning and measures 20 metres wide by 2.5 metres high.

The awning stretches overhead with visible timber struts and is open on either side. The wall is painted cream and has two cream-coloured roller doors. Between the two doors are several large paintings of players and teams. At the far left are the life size figures of two young women playing rugby. Both wear the red, white and black uniforms of the club. They have their back to us. One is standing while the other sits on the ground stretching for the ball. Above them is painted a formal team photo from 1958. Next comes a large single figure of a man bent forwards after kicking the ball The words "celebrating 110 years" are printed underneath. Next is another formal team picture from 1922 partly covered by two players painted over and above it.

Above the central roller door is painted "Friends for Life" in loopy black cursive script.

To the right of the central door is a huddle of young boys wearing red, white and black uniforms. They're standing in a circle with their arms round each other’s shoulders. The coach stands beside them holding a rugby ball high above his head.

Below the mural runs a band of red, white and black horizontal lines.

The second mural is painted on the weatherboards facing the entry to the clubhouse. It measures 6 metres by 2.5 metres and shows a young girl on the left shaking hands with a boy on the right. Both wear Leichhardt Wanderers uniforms. Painted on the wall to the left of them is "Home of the Mighty Leichhardt Wanderers".

The third mural is painted on the side of a black shipping container measuring 4 metres by 2.5 metres and is slightly difficult to make out because of the ridges in the wall of the container. The left half shows a circle of six young female netball players all wearing red, white and black tunics and joining their hands. The right half shows nine young boys standing in a group face-on and carrying cricket gear. The cricketers are loosely painted in white.

All these painted murals demonstrate a long and continuing history of inclusivity and friendship at Leichhardt Wanderers Club.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Friends For Life

First Impressions  
by Nico Nicoson and Kim Siew, 2022
1 Lincoln Street, Stanmore

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This mural is painted on two adjoining exterior walls of the Stanmore Kindergarten. It is 20 metres wide and 4.5 metres high on both walls. The mural consists of an array of characters and icons painted in solid teal, pink, baby blue, dark blue and yellow. The forms are in simple 2D style, similar to a young child's illustrated cartoon.

In the top left hand corner in front of a pale blue background is a white crescent moon, underneath which flies a blue bird. Below the bird are two matching three storey houses with rust coloured roofs and blue windows.

Painted to the right is a very large arched window with four panels.

Next to the window, a large orange watering can tips water onto a large spiky orange plant in a rust coloured pot. Then, more birds fly in front of a large orange heart. Underneath this is a large red apple and a blue book, but these have been nibbled through the middle by a long green smiley faced caterpillar. To its right a large paintbrush splashes teal paint on the wall.

The mural is interrupted by a black framed and barred window. Next to this sits a huge red ring tail possum with blue eyes. The possum is sitting on a green branch with shapes of blue, green and red behind it. The bottom right corner has a solid light blue background, with a small dandelion losing some of its white fluffy top to the wind.

The mural continues around the corner onto the front face of the kindergarten. Most of the elements on this part of the mural represent parts of nature, and are painted in the same colour palette. From left to right are more green caterpillars, red autumn leaves, blue birds with yellow beaks, more dandelions in the wind and a variety of colourful shapes. In front of this wall is a bottle green metal fence with a square white sign which reads "Stanmore Kindergarten", painted in the same colours as the mural behind it.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

First Impressions

Early Birchgrove/Cockatoo Island Memories
by Kelly Wallwork, 2019
36 Cove Street, Birchgrove

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This delicate sepia mural is painted onto the white wooden panelling that makes up the street side of a timber house in Birchgrove.

It measures 11 metres wide and 3 metres high and shows several olden day views of Sydney harbour. At each end of the wall is a large rectangular window. The windows’ wooden frames are painted dark blue and the internal blinds are down.

The centre of the mural shows a large and skeletal metal construction that reaches from the top to the bottom of the mural. The tower has five splayed legs and slopes up towards a platform then up again to a smaller platform with a central wheel on top – probably a remnant of the coal mine that used to be in Balmain. Through and beyond the metal tower Sydney Harbour can be seen with two old wooden sailing ships on the water between Birchgrove and Hunters Hill in the distance. On the shore to the right of the tower is a huddle of old buildings and then a very large black and white bird is painted sitting on a wooden pylon. The bird is looking left towards the tower. To the right of the bird stands a row of six men standing side by side and facing the front. The men are dressed in baggy overalls and all but one carries a long-handled sledgehammer held horizontally at waist height. A large white fluffy dog stands with the men.

To the left of the tower is painted a faint head and shoulders portrait of a young boy. He is wearing a striped shirt. The boy is facing to the right and looks beyond the tower towards the bird. To the left of the boy is painted a perfect replica of an old three masted sailing ship anchored in the harbour. Several smaller boats are moored nearby. Further to the left is a cluster of eleven young men dressed in open-necked shirts with the sleeves rolled up, and wearing trousers or dungarees. A couple of them carry mallets. They are all painted in a pale sepia colour like an old faded black and white photograph.

Indeed this whole mural is like a gentle snapshot of Birchgrove's historical past.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.

www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/PerfectMatch

Early Birchgrove/Cockatoo Island Memories

Lima 'Listic' Peni was joined by Counsellor Linda Scott to speak about affordable, safe housing and the importance of libraries and other community spaces. 

Anything Goes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10am-midday 88.9FM Radio Skid Row

Anything Goes was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation (Find out more at cbf.org.au).

21/06/23

Linda Scott - Anything Goes 88.9FM

Radio Skid Row is a grassroots community radio station based in Marrickville, broadcasting to the Inner City Sydney. This includes the municipalities of Leichhardt, Marrickville and the City of Sydney.
Radio Skid Row plays some of the best hip hop and reggae you will hear on air Sydney. we also broadcast in 15 languages!

Our SoundCloud page invites you to listen to programs, interviews and segments.

New tracks tagged #InnerWest