MARGARET KOUS, ROSE GARDEN MURAL, 2000

Location: Collie Replica Rail Station, Collie Rose Garden, 86 Throssell St

This mural is a combination of images blending Collie’s current and past histories.

Because of its proximity to the site of the old Collie Railway Station, the artist has used images of rail, past and present, to highlight the continuing importance of rail to the industrial and social history of this town.

The ‘Wagyal’ (serpent) emerging from Minninup Pool, reminds the observer of the ancient culture of the Noongar people, the original occupants of this area, and of the importance of the Collie and Harris Rivers, the waters of which are used for domestic and irrigation use over a larger area of WA.

In the distance can be seen the outlines of Muja and Collie Power Stations and the Worsley Alumina Refinery.

The vanishing point in the centre of the mural focuses attention on the future of Collie and the need for the whole community to continue to work together.

The mural artist, Mrs Margaret Kous, completed the project over a number of months through the participation of Fairview and Amaroo Year 6 & 7 primary school students, Claude Hill, Carl Kous and Christie Coomer.

Financial sponsors of the project were the Community Arts Network and the Collie Shire Council. Other contributors to the project include Dr Hilda Turnbull MLA, Collie Heritage Group, Collie Railway Station Group, Mr John Feeney, Collie Agricultural Society, Taubmans Paints and Townscape Advisory Committee members. This mural was an initiative of the Shire of Collie Townscape Committee

About the artist:

Margaret Kous was born in Mildura, Victoria in December 1949. Her parents took her to Auckland, New Zealand, in a flying boat in January 1950. In 1982, Margaret moved to Collie, Western Australia, with her husband Carl, where they raised a combined family of six children.

Images: Taj Kempe

THE COLLIE MURAL TRAIL