General News
10 May, 2025
Community invited to help bloom new mural
A colourful community art project is under way in Rainbow, where residents of all ages are invited to help paint a vibrant flower-themed mural on the back wall of the Old Shelter Shed at Oasis Rainbow.
Spearheaded by local artist and Rainbow Innovation Centre president Belinda Eckermann, the mural celebrates creativity, community spirit and local heritage.
Old Rainbow resident Carol Draper generously donated $1000 in honour of her grandmother, Minnie Millicent Draper.
The mural will feature a colourful garden of flowers, including a figure wearing a hat to reflect Minnie’s background as a milliner.
“Carol Draper contacted me and donated $1000 for us to do something for the Innovation Centre and to sort of research her grandmother,” Ms Eckermann said.
“We went and put some flowers on her grandmother’s grave and tried to do a little bit of research on her grandmother.
“She used to help run the Eureka Hotel, moved here in Rainbow in the 60s, and was a milliner and a lingerie model in the paper.”
The project has been a genuine community effort.
Students from the Hands-On Learning group at Rainbow P-12 College pressure-washed, scraped, and undercoated the mural wall.
Junior members of the Innovation Centre painted the background of the grass while adult participants helped start the sky.
Ms Eckermann sketched the early outlines of the mural, including a girl with a hat to symbolise Minnie’s legacy.
“To extend the sensory garden that we’ve got here at the Oasis, we decided to do a nice garden mural of flowers,” she said.
“So we’re asking all members of the community — no matter what painting ability you have — to come and paint some flowers or blobs of colour to give the impression of flowers on the large mural.”
The Rainbow Innovation Centre, which also contributed financially to this initiative, hopes the mural will be completed in about a month.
Ms Eckermann invited the community to participate in the painting of the mural at the Oasis this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.
She also organised a separate session just for students at the Oasis on Tuesday after school.
