From my ‘googling’ Bowen is north Queensland’s oldest town and pride in its history has been translated to 28 murals that depict events and life over the past 150 years. This is why locals proudly exclaim that Bowen is the mural capital of Australia.
The first of Bowen’s 27 Murals was painted in 1988. The idea behind the murals belonged to a former Bowen resident (name not found). She came up with the idea on her visit to Chemainus in Canada, where the town’s historical past was shown in wall murals.
I decided to cycle around and photograph the murals. Some were hard to find because you’d ride down a street looking for them and realise they were painted on side walls, not visible until you changed direction!
Somehow I managed to cycle about 16 km but I’m not sure I covered the route in the most effective way.
6 Responses
Thanks. The murals are really good, but the map in the Bowen tourist guide book is really difficult to follow. As you said, the fact that they face different directions and everything makes them quite difficult to find, but then there are a number that are very difficult to see because there’s a staircase over one, trees and shrubs in front of another and some are behind fences. They are lovely pictures but haven’t been treated very well by the town or whoever drew the map. That is just information for anyone trying to look at them, not a complaint to the person who made this page.
Heard about the Bowen murals on an ABC radio story. Impressive.
What a remarkable collection of artworks!
Well done you. As you know we’ve been here 2 years and have yet to do the Grand Mural Tour. Bet you worked up a “glow”!
Very good. Nice change from the Big Prawn/Pineapple/.. attractions of other towns
Great wall art.