Blast It Clean It Paint It supplied Mr Steve Neale (Community Housing Limited) with Nano Coatings to help transform a Crime Hotspot in Port Macquarie which was featured on ABC News.
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Please Read the ABC news article is below.
A community is tackling neighbourhood crime with art in Port Macquarie, or Guruk, as it's known in the Gathang language of the local Birpai people.
Key points:
A new laneway mural celebrates Birpai culture in Guruk (Port Macquarie)
A community-led project cleaned up the site that had become a hotspot for crime
The colourful design features seven Birpai totems and handprints from local children
No Name Lane connects two cul-de-sacs in Guruk's west and used to be a dark, overgrown alley that had become a hotspot for vandalism, violence and drug use. It's now been transformed with a colourful, spray-painted mural celebrating Birpai culture. "People didn't feel safe walking through here, and the alternative was going quite a lengthy way around," said Community Housing Ltd's Steve Neale, who spearheaded the project. Steve Neale (pictured below against the mural) brought together community groups and local artists to paint the mural.(ABC Mid North Coast: Alexandra Jones)"There were broken bottles and things like that from the anti-social behaviour, so it was about cleaning that up and making it more visible."
After consultation with Aboriginal elders, the local council, community groups and residents, the laneway has been cleaned up and the fencing decorated with a design incorporating the seven totems of the Birpai people: an eagle, kangaroo, crab, stingray, three bass, two dolphins and a shark.
Artist Verqelle Fisher, who has lived in the neighbourhood for nine years, is one of two local creatives brought in to help guide the spray-painting of the mural. Verqelle Fisher teaches local kids how to spray-paint.(ABC Mid North Coast: Alexandra Jones)"We're not only people from Birpai country, there's a lot of cultures living in this area but [this mural] is acknowledging the country they're on," she said. "Our art, everyone's art, tells a story and there's a meaning behind it. This is an awesome meaning giving the traditional landowners here respect plus our community is coming together to do that," Ms Fisher said. At each entrance to the laneway is the symbol for men and women gathering, and Ms Fisher said it represented them watching over the children as they walked through the laneway. "It's already brightened up the whole neighbourhood," she said. "Around this area is a lot of violence, drugs and alcohol, and just to brighten up this laneway is saying a lot for our community here. Local children and families have been joining in, learning how to spray-paint and adding their handprints in the red, yellow and black of the Aboriginal flag.
Special Thanks to Ms Romayne Page & Mr Steve Neale (Community Housing Limited) & Mr Peter Everett (Nanoman Coatings) for their assistance in relation to the coatings supplied.
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