Murals on the West Side of Cullen Street

Nimbin Murals
on the West Side of Cullen Street
excerpt from "Nimbin & Environs, 2002" by Mousetrap Media

The first thing that strikes any visitor entering Nimbin is the colourful murals which dominate the shop facades on either side of Cullen Street. This is the most visible legacy of Aquarius, the student festival which in 1973 rejuvenated Nimbin from a dying dairy town into the "Alternative Capital of Australia.

A Nimbin Public Art Story excerpt from Benny Zable

"In the lead up to the Aquarius Festival held in May 1973, the Nimbin Village was painted up! Vernon Treweke came up with the original idea. Graeme Dunstan liaised with Johnny Allen to help get the project going and permission was sought from the shopkeepers. The Rainbow Cafe was the first place painted by Vernon, featuring rainbow stars. This inspired many other artisans, among them Lindsay Burke and Dick Weight, to spread the Rainbow theme to neighbouring village buildings.

The RSL was purchased by the Aquarius team, later to become the Media Centre, and was painted with a large Union Jack. The plumber's shop became the learning exchange with a mural of flying saucers painted by Peter Painter which survived until 1992. Susukka Trading replaced it with a mural by Colleen Saulwick.

In 1997, Graeme Dunstan facilitated a mural project to redo the Nimbin Facades. Benny Zable and friends designed and painted new murals. Norman and Carol (pioneers of Birth and Beyond) received from the Nepal Healing Centre a replica of a Sakyamuni Healing Tanka, that was reference for a mural on the Nimbin Healing Centre. A traditional Buddhist "Dotting of the eyes ceremony took place on completion by the visiting monk Phra Kantopalo. Mandalas of the sun and moon made by John Seed were installed on either side of the mural."

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