Glen Eira College

The Building Our Community and Identity (BOCI) Committee is proud to present the GEC Mural. This project is the culmunation of 18 months of work by BOCI, the Art club, and the GEC community. We would like to thank the parent association, whose generous contributions supported the creation of the mural, as well as the amazing team of students, staff and parents for their incredible support and effort in making this project a success, particuarly our leadership team: Aditri, Momona, Mathis, Milja, Hari and Keiran. We give a special thanks to Madame Loveena, who has led this project with an unfathomable amount of dedication and positivity, bringing to life our mural. And above all,we thank our amazing artist, Robert Young who dedicated so much of his time and skill to creating this mural with us.

Below is an exerpt from a conversation with Robert, explaining the significance of the mural and it’s elements:
There are four main elements to the mural, 1 the colour, the tree, the leaves, and the words.
Each element are representative of a different celebration of the GEC

The Colour
The colour is the spirit and vibrancy of the young people I worked with and their joy and excitement has made it a pleasure to come in and overcome the 11:30pm Saturday night session

The Tree
The tree is a scar tree and why that is important for the location is that scar trees are placed around Borra ground which have cultural significance as they are ceremonial places or places of significance.
The markings of the scar in the tree are in the shape of a canoe, which to me is about taking those who were on the journey and about problem solving in a creative way. And are Wardjurie representing different song lines that we have different journeys and places to be. In creating this, we create a sign that all are acknowledged and welcomed. In the same way that if there is a language that isn’t on the mural it will be added

The Leaves
The leaves are the three leaves that were used in our first welcome to country ceremony, the manigum, the cherry ballart and the wattle that represent our past, present and future.
I was looking around the quadrangle and saw that one of the gum trees had new red leaves as well as old green leaves. I wanted to use this to acknowledge the older students coming into leadership at the school by painting the leaves the same shade of red.

The Words

The words are represntive of the diverse cultures and backrounds of the GEC community. The languages prominence on the wall and placement together signals how culture brings together community and the importance of continuing to celebrate that.

Overall the piece is a representation and a celebration of community, language and culture and togetherness.

Robert Michael Young is a Gunnai, Waradjurie, man who is very passionate about his Culture and People. Robert is an established artist and has created artworks all over Melbourne and has created and been apart of significant moments that are shifting and changing the conversations around his People, Culture and Art.

Some of the companies, projects and people Robert has meet in sort art career as an artist he had the opportunity to meet the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on there visit to Melbourne during there tour as Duke and Duchess of Essex when Robert spoke about his mural with them both. He has created a line of Clothing and Shoes for PUMA. Artwork for the AFL and Richmond FC, Cricket Australia, Australian Open. And was one of the first contestants on the Australian TV show ‘Making it’.

Robert knows that all of these opportunities have come to of the man his parents have raised and the brother and uncle he is to his family. But also what he believes and know that its better to lead with love in all that you do. That is a way that makes an impact so much more profoundly then just a great artwork. But gives life and substance to everything that you can do and overcome any obstacle.

Painting Video

Madame Loveena and Robert Interview