Floods in late 2022 have had extreme impacts on communities across the NSW Central West.
Currently (as of 1 December 2022) there has been damage or water over at least 25% of the public art works in the region (in particular in Eugowra and along the Lachlan Valley). A full audit of damage will be done in time.
There has also been damage to some museums and galleries in Cowra, Canowindra and Forbes and of course in Eugowra.
In a Facebook post on November 30, 2022, the Eugowra Murals committee wrote:
“The damage to so many of our murals is truly heartbreaking to see. Many are badly damaged, some we have lost completely and others will need a lot of work but can be saved. Unfortunately we lost the ‘Eugowra Sawmill’ in Lions Pioneer Park , the ANZAC mural in the memorial park and the ‘Team of the Century’ in the Eugowra Sportsground is missing in action. The ‘Shell Oil’ mural is at risk as the building it is painted directly onto will be soon be demolished. A number of other murals have been placed into storage due to damage to the buildings they were afixed to. Ted Stroms old garage will be demolished and the family plan to rebuild on the site. The refubished ‘Wings of Victoy’ is now in storage and will one day be back on the Stroms home. The ‘Gardiner Gang’ and the ‘Welcome to Eugowra ‘ murals are also now in storage as the building next to the supermarket has also been condemned. The ‘Farmers Federation ‘ mural was damaged and has been taken down as well as the CWA murals whilst it is decided if the CWA rooms can be saved. The ‘Central hotel beer delivery ‘ had damage to its frame and had to be removed. The amount of work required to restore our mural trail is truly overwhelming.”
Arts OutWest are endeavoring to make notes on the listings on this site of which works and venues are currently closed, inaccessible or damaged – this will take time so please check local conditions, contact local tourism offices before your travel or use the contacts provided with listings.
Want to assist the communities recover? Here are some of the fundraisers:
Eugowra Flood Appeal (via Givit)
There are a number of local arts-based flood support and recovery events
See the list here at What’s On
IMAGE: 📷 Photo of the Parallel Motors mural in Eugowra by Farmpix Photography (Chris Watson), used with permission.
Home to around 700 people the beautiful village of Eugowra has 36 large murals, painted over many years during the annual mural painting weekend, representing the stories of the village and district. Nearly all homes and businesses in Eugowra were flooded including the Craft on the Creek shop and Eugowra Historical Museum and Bushranger Centre. St Joseph’s Primary School lost their much loved collection of musical instruments.
