Residents around Waterworks Valley in Dynnyrne have spent years reshaping their own neighbourhood, from slow points to keep children safe on the walk to school to signs urging drivers to watch for wildlife.
Next weekend they add a mural to the list.
The work, by local artist Isabel Nunez, will be unveiled at the Waterworks Quarry site on Saturday, October 3, with live music, a coffee van, food vouchers, face painting and community activities.
It draws on the Waterworks Rivulet and the birds and plants around it.
Blue flowing shapes weave through four panels, joined by a yellow wattlebird, silver banksia and wattle, a pair of pink robins, Dianella tasmanica, a fantail and native ferns.
“The composition centres around the movement of water, represented by blue flowing shapes that connect all four panels, reflecting the rivulet as a living thread through the landscape,” Nunez said.
She said the birds mattered most to her.
“Birds play such an important role in the ecosystem and many of them can be quietly observed in the valley if we slow down and pay attention.”
Getting the work onto the wall was not simple.
“To get the mural up and onto the wall was a journey of many obstacles as the wall was deemed too wet to paint the mural directly onto it,” mural project manager Dorka Kabaivanof said.
“An alternative solution had to be found and the original six months time frame blew out to over two years.”
Kabaivanof thanked the City of Hobart for covering installation and future upkeep and the local Landcare group for donating the aluminium panels.
The valley already has Bushcare and Landcare groups, a Lantern Parade, a community garden and Fantail Quarry.
Landcare and Bushcare members helped choose the species for the mural, along with ecologist Michelle Foale and birdwatcher Donald Knowler.
Nunez was mentored by Hobart mural artist Bec Adamczewski, with support from a City of Hobart Small Community Grant.
Work is now underway to remove invasive willow trees from the rivulet, with locals hoping platypus will one day return to its lower reaches.
