Murals
Local Landscapes by James Gulliver Hancock
James Gulliver Hancock is visual communicator who makes pictures that tell stories about situations and local environments. He works in many mediums and is passionate about the local Illawarra landscape and its incredible flora and fauna.
These 4 pieces depict scenes from the local environment and reflect experiences common to the areas surrounding Warilla.
From left to right; 1) Snorkelling and a Pied Oystercatcher sifting through the sand, 2) A Sandpiper shore bird finds a tasty morsel while surfers and paddle boarders move amongst the sunshine, 3) A Lyrebird sings a song in the hinterland rainforest which startles a bushwalker, 4) A Wattlebird picks at the flowers in a suburban garden as skateboarders and cars move through the urban landscape.
Location: Bernaud Crescent, Warilla (Warilla Pool exterior wall)
Date: July 2024
Refraction by Sahil Roy
Sahil Roy's 'Refraction' isn't a picture, it's a feeling. It captures Shellharbour Village with textured waves, swirling colours, and bold and gestural strokes. Blues and purples evoke the ocean's endless depths, while the dynamic movements across the canvas portray the constant interplay between the village, the sea, and the sky.
It is a work of contrasts, where tranquility meets the untamed wilderness of the water's edge.
Sahil invites the viewer to be the conductor; the lack of a fixed form is an open invitation to craft your own interpretation, to weave your personal memories and experiences of Shellharbour Village into the vibrant canvas. Forget a literal image - Sahil lets you create your own.
Sahil Roy is a renowned multi-disciplinary artist and designer from Melbourne. With a creative foundation as a graffiti artist spanning over a decade, the transition into an abstract approach has allowed Roy to explore an entirely new avenue of style and creative self-expression.
His now signature layering processes enable him to capture his own visual narratives, floating through dynamic layers of stylistic introspection.
Location: 18 Addison Street, Shellharbour Village
Date: June 2024
Unceasing Day & Evening Sky by Michael Black
These artworks capture a moment within a found Australian landscape. The work carries expressive mark-making and an uplifting bright colour palette placing the viewer into the scene.
Michael Black is a Sydney-based artist who creates large-format murals, digital artwork & prints, using a variety of mixed-media techniques. Michael produces expressive abstract compositions & forms inspired by discovered Aussie landscapes, encountered people, & personal experiences.
Location: Hall Lane, Warilla
Date: May 2023
Locking Horns by Ling
Locking Horns has obvious connotations with the idea of an ongoing struggle. Whilst on a personal level this doesn’t represent a specific moment in time, it's something that resonates when looking to achieve anything … if it was easy, everyone would be doing it already.
Ling is a Melbourne-based artist. He has been adding colour & vibrancy to his environment since 2000. Known for producing large-scale installations, Ling combines traditional graffiti's aesthetics with heavy brush strokes, textures & a deft touch with aerosols, resulting in bold designs.
Location: 161 Tongarra Road, Albion Park
Date: May 2023
House in the Hills by Helen Proctor
The artwork reflects the surrounding farmland and escarpment. The artist used colours that pop from the urban area and blend with the natural landscape. As the public walks through the painting, the mountains become an extension of the artwork.
Helen Proctor is an Australian artist who has just returned from living abroad in Europe. There she developed her focus on abstract landscape painting both in her studio & on large-scale mural projects. Her current practice explores the use of colour & abstraction methods to depict the emotional nostalgia revived from a personal connection to place.
Location: 191 Princes Highway, Albion Park Rail
Date: May 2023
Still Life Blues by Alex Sugar
Still Life Blues is a play between water and land species — in particular, the Yellow Admiral Butterfly perched on the common Sydney Octopus. To finish the still life scene the artist added seashells to represent the Shellharbour region.
Alex Sugar is a Melbourne-based realism painter well-known for his large-scale murals & studio works depicting native Australian flora & fauna. He has a particular interest in merging this distinctive style with still life & surreal components. The aim of his mural work is to translate his studio practice to large-scale projects - strengthening connection to art & the natural environment, while aesthetically enhancing urban sites.
Location: 155 Tongarra Road, Albion Park
Date: May 2023
The Great Sea of Wonder by Zoe Xuji and Chloe Watfern
This mural piece brings together the art forms of collage and mural making through a collaboration with Zoe Xuji and Chloe Watfern. The artwork aims to celebrate the river systems, ocean bays and nature walks of the Illawarra through abstract shapes and patterns. Small canoes that could also appear to be seeds float in the great sea of wonder, windows into the stars and stillness, inviting you to explore the abundant natural world and perhaps the internal world too. Large wings of blue golden kelp sweep across patterns of gum trees and brackern fern while a small fantail watches on as the great sea of wonder flows and swells and waves back.
Location: Oak Flats Neighbourhood Centre, 42 Fisher Street, Oak Flats.
Date: 2022
Interconnection by Mandy Schöne-Salter 
Living in the Blue Mountains National Park in Australia for the past 17 years, I have come to realise how nature can have a positive impact on our lives. Being surrounded by nature helps us reduce anxiety and stress as well as increases our attention, creativity and ability to connect with other people.
My artwork ‘Interconnections’ is creating a focus on the delicate and fragile nature of our Indigenous flora and fauna. Most wildflowers are so small that they can be easily missed and through my murals, I want to bring attention to their beauty and colour by painting them larger than life. Only what we know exists, we will be able to protect.
Location: Oak Flats Pool, Kingston St & Hope St, Oak Flats NSW 2529
Date: 2022
Tongarra Pass by David Cragg
'Tongarra Pass' is an amazing piece that encompassses a red wattle bird zooming by the entrance, flanked by flannel flowers.
Two galahs cruise by in the distance, interspersed by a close-up of a spotted pardalote. More flannel flowers flank an eastern yellow robin, followed by a willie wagtail sitting on the top of a bottle brush bloom.
The final attendee is a crimson rosella, one of my local favourites, often found voyaging up and down the escarpment from the highlands to the coast.
The title of the piece draws inspiration from Macquarie Pass, the escarpment featured in the mural.
It's a gentle push for the renaming/dual-naming of this incredible and significant section of national park after the Gommerrigal- Tonngarra Aboriginal people, instead of coloniser Lachlan Macquarie.
Location: Albion Park Pool - 8/10 Russell St, Albion Park NSW 2527
Date: 2022
Inflorescence by Mandy Schöne--Salter
After living in the Blue Mountains for the past 16 years, I have realised that nature can have a positive impact on our lives. Research has shown that being surrounded by nature helps us reduce anxiety and stress as well as increases our attention, creativity and ability to connect with other people.
During the recent drought followed by the black summer bushfires, I have also come to understand how strongly our mental wellbeing is connected to the health of our environment. With this artwork I want the viewer to connect with and learn about our precious native flora and fauna. As Dr. Jane Goodall said “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.”
The artwork includes wildflowers like the white and yellow Paper Daisy, blue Flax Lily, Flannel Flower, Waratah, Grevillea, Correa wild fuchsia and much more. I want this artwork to be eye catching and welcoming visitors to the Shellharbour area as well as celebrate our rich and diverse native flora and fauna.
Location: Cnr Pioneer Drive and New Lake Entrance Road
Date: 2021
Day Dreamer by Krimsone and Scott Nagy
Owning a home to call your own may seem like a dream; the desire for comfortable living is like a fable in a picture book. How might these aspirations of housing growth affecting our local environments?
Location: Cnr Tongarra Road and Halket Ln, Albion Park
Date: 2021
Midnight Showdown by David Cragg
'Midnight Showdown' is a vibrant mural featuring an abundance of local bird species - an Eastern Yellow Robin, a Bluefaced Honeyeater, a Pink Galah, a Golden Whistler, a Red Browed Finch, a Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo and a Fairy Wren. These birds, combined with ferns, Flannel Flowers and Banksia blooms, foreground a brilliant rust-red and orange mountain range, reflecting the Illawarra escarpment. Twinkling stars float above this scene, meeting the ascending rainbow trees.
Location: Princes Highway Albion Park Rail, in the laneway next to the Albion Park Rail Medical Centre
Date: 2021
Mural by Sion Gruffydd
Drawing inspiration from Banksy, existing colour schemes and contemporary branding of The Links, this mural serves as both directional signage and visual art. The lettering was painted by hand, layer upon layer of paint; an ode to traditional signwriting techniques and practices.
Location: The Links, Golf Dr, Shell Cove NSW 2529
Date: 2021
A Laughing Matter by Karla Hayes
'A Laughing Matter' depicts street lights, native plants and bird species crowding at the tree line. Acacia blooms, waratahs and gum trees frame two kookaburras laughing centre stage, working together to drive off interlopers. The second kookaburra is a pale cream colour, referencing a unique Illawarra resident, the white kookaburra. Often mistaken for having albinism, these kookaburras have a rare genetic mutation called leucism and are beloved by residents lucky enough to spot them. Rainbow stems dissect the mural, rising through a cloud-speckled sky and reflecting David Cragg's signature rainbow trees in his parallel mural 'Midnight Showdown.'
Location: Princes Highway Albion Park Rail, in the laneway next to the Albion Park Rail Medical Centre
Date: 2021
Illawarra Land and Sea by Richard Campbell
Richard gives us an insight into the meaning behind his work, and his use of visual symbolism to portray narrative and traditional language.
- Goorawal whale is the totem of this area. The ocean has delivered food for thousands of years we have a significant connection.
- Land (Muru) has been looked after by our people for thousands of years. Our mother has provided animals for us to eat and survival of our old people shows what we ate.
- The circles represent the different areas of this vast area in which we travelled for food and shelter.
- The old man represents the care takers- looking over the land to ensure our country is safe and they are the custodians of country.
- Gadhu (ocean)
- Mutton fish (Abolone)
- Jungah (octopus)
- Yaxa (Crab)
- Murra (fish)
- Gadhu njin muru (land and sea people)
Location: Blackbutt Forest Reserve, amphitheater wall
Date: 2021
Binyang Dyiral / Bird Shoal by David Cragg
Tucked away on the Lake, the suburb of Oak Flats is a hidden gem. A bustling community with breathtaking views to the sunsets across the lake and escarpment. The Binyang Dyiral mural, Dharawal for Bird Shoal, is a homage to the local natural environment, and some of the flora and fauna found upon the lakes edge. A glowing sunset reflects off the Lake, dissected by the distant escarpment. Amongst the intertidal zone, Two Mulgu (Black Swans) appear face to face amongst a bottlebrush bloom. Further along, a cheeky Garrawi (Sulphur Crested Cockatoo) takes front and centre, flanked by a Rainbow Lorikeet and a Kookaburra. She-oaks, wattle, ferns and flannel flowers complete the scene
Location: Reynolds Lane, Oak Flats
Date: 2021
Vibrant Osmosis by Happy Decay
“This particular street artwork is the fusion of two forms of art that I enjoy to paint. When you view the work at either end of the ramps they are quiet different but thought the centre of the skatepark they start to merge and overlap becoming one. One is pattern based and the other is more influenced by an urban style of street art. Both are linked through bright colours and contrast. The work itself can be enjoyed from a distance while also when being up close you can enjoy further details of the work. I wanted the street art to bring a new vibrance to the park so people could further enjoy hanging out there with a positive vibe to it.” - Happy Decay
Location: Albion Park Rail Skate Park
Date: May 2021
Phoenix Rising by Trait 
This mural is a play on the story of the Phoenix Rising. In Trait’s painting, the Black Swans are rising out of the Waratah Flowers in a loving embrace. The artwork incorporates native species found in the region- the Swans representing the coastal plain; the Waratahs representing the highlands; and the Illawarra Flame Tree flowers represent the escarpment. Faint silhouettes of the native phragmites (reeds) have also been included along the wall in other blank spaces to tie the whole wall together.
Location: Shellharbour Airport, arrivals terminal
Date: May 2021
Southerly Change By Gus Eagleton 
Gus’s iconic style merges two genders and includes ocean textures and a montage of the foreshore itself. The colour palette has been inspired by the hues of the sunset and represents youthfulness and vitality.
Gus’s photorealistic finish portrays a female figure wearing a hat, a nod to the local area and the community itself.
Gus explores the individual in nature, juxtaposed against the concrete city.
Location: Addy's restaurant, Addison St, Shellharbour Village
Date: 2021
Nor Easter by David Cragg
David Cragg's mural expands approximately 70m across the length of the Shellharbour City Stadium. It features a Kookaburra, Spotted Pardalote and Yellowtail Black Cockatoos.
Vertical rainbow trees punctuate the composition, paying homage to David’s Bundjalung and Biripai heritage and First Nations People's continued connection to the Dreaming.
Acacia, Grevilleas, Banksias and ferns cluster along the bottom of the wall - primarily pointing south-west, indicating a noreaster breeze blowing.
David is a multidisciplinary artist of Irish, Scottish and Bundjalung ancestry, working in Dharawhal Country.
Location: Shellharbour City Stadium, 110 Croome Rd, Croom
Date: 2021
No Place Like Home by Claire Foxton
The work features native flora, fauna and bush food found in the region, including a Moreton Bay Fig, Finger Lime, Cunjevoi Lily and a Superb Fairywren.
The abstract shapes intersecting the more realistic elements are inspired by various other plant species found on walks through local reserves.
The colours were chosen to compliment Bendigo Bank's signage with a pop of ultramarine blue to break up the warmth of the palette.
Claire’s works teeter on the edge of control and intuition, guided by her roots in Design and influenced by Abstract Expressionism.
Location: Bendigo Bank, Oak Flats (Cnr Griffiths St and Central Ave)
Date: 2021
Wake up Call by Krimsone and Scott Nagy 
The mural portrays local endangered flora and fauna, including the Swift Parrot, Weedy Sea Dragon, Sandpiper, the Magenta Lilli Pilli, and Chorizema parviflorum, all of which are attempting to wake up the human, as we obnoxiously sleep on their decline.
Scott paints murals responding to the local landscape, often painting with surreal perspectives and environmental themes.
Krimsone rarely uses references, exploring his own imagination and turns it into physical marks and colours.
Location: McKeon Lane, Warilla
Date: 2021
Stronger Together by Trait 
This mural features four elegant local water birds, their long necks and dramatic features well intertwined to create fluid movement across the wall. It has been designed to represent togetherness in the community, the embrace between different cultures and mutual respect.
The weatherboard houses portrayed are iconic of the coastal area and Lake Illawarra, where the waterbirds inhabit. Also featured are flowers from the Illawarra Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius), a symbol of our region.
Trait works with aerosols markers and acrylics on canvas, paper, wood and found objects; dancing on a fine line between realism and surrealism.
Location: McKeon Lane, Warilla
Date: 2021
Future Shade by Sarah McCloskey 
“Future Shade” is painted by Sydney-based artist Sarah McCloskey. The concept is based on the quote “Blessed are those who plant trees under whose shade they will never sit”, which presents the idea of making choices and taking actions, that benefit not yourself but those who come after
The people represented, including the artist herself and Omar Musa, a NSW writer and poet, plant seeds to create shade for future generations to both enjoy and learn from, and so the cycle continues.
Location: Oak Flats Library, 61 Central Ave. Oak Flats
Date: 2020
Mural by Mikey Freedom 
The mural by local artist Mikey Freedom reflects the changing face of Shellharbour with reference to the regions many beaches and coastal birdlife.
Location: 58 Towns St, Shellharbour
Date: 2019
Mural by Claire Foxton 
The mural incorporates a coastal botanic design with native species of flora found nearby to waterways, including the Banksia and Maidenhair Fern.
Location: Warilla Lifeguard Tower, Warilla beach
Date: 2019
Blue Banded Bee by Trait 
The Blue-Banded Bee is a native bee in the area and currently under threat. These bees are stingless and are attracted to blue and purple flowers.
Trait has also included plastic toy flowers, which are a playful comment on our increasing plastic environment.
Location: Warilla Library , 8 Woolworths Ave, Warilla
Date: 2019
'Two heads are better than one' by Poncho Army 
Poncho Army describes her concept as: “I like the idea of putting two heads together to help make a change, to make a difference or to just have someone there to support you. I often use birds in my artworks to represent people as I find it helps engage a community by making the piece not too literal and open for interpretation. Lorikeets are very vibrant and playful birds and are a common sight in the Illawarra”.
Location: 46 Central Ave, Oak Flats
Date: 2018
Warilla Wonderland Mural by Sam Dreams 
This mural is directly linked to the artists personal experience in the Shellharbour area. It signifies her connection to the local, natural environment and represents our coast line community. This mural has been conceptualised with a sense of mystery and magic in mind. It aims to highlight the wonder if our environment and the amazing flora and fauna that I have only just glimpsed at.
Location: Hall Lane & Beverly Avenue, Warilla
Date: 2018
Two Hands by Claire Foxton
Claire describes her mural as representing “the sheer power and possibility of what we can do with our own two hands - whether it be helping a neighbour, expressing ourselves, working hard or educating or empowering others.”
Date: 2016
Last updated : Thu 8 Aug 2024