PETER MOYES ANGLICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL 1
INDIGENOUS ARTWORKS BRING NEW LIFE TO CAMPUS The campus of Peter Moyes Anglican Community School (PMACS) has had a bright new facelift, thanks to three new Aboriginal artworks throughout the School. PMACS Deans of Students, Alison Grey and Nicole Brown, successfully applied to the Anglican Schools Commission’s Special Mission Fund in 2021 to commission a local Indigenous artist to create a series of vibrant murals. Local Noongar/Arrernte artist, Jade Dolman, spent time researching the cultural connection of the part of Whadjuk boodjar (land) the School resides on and designed the artwork to reflect these connections. Her designs reflect the colours of the boodjar and wardan (ocean), and native flora and fauna.
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The mural in the Kindy/Pre-Primary playground includes the School colours of yellow, blue and green, and also features the native plant Banksia Attenuata. Jade explains the location of the School is part of the Banksia Woodlands, which is why she chose to feature the native Banksia Attenuata on the mural. The plant is used by Noongar people to make a sweet tea, as a torch when lit, or as a hairbrush!
“I’ve never painted a round wall before, so this was a pretty exciting surface,” she said.
The mural in the Secondary School courtyard presented the first ever opportunity for Jade to work on a rounded wall.
The round wall mural also features native flora such as Geraldton Wax, Milk Maids and Pink Fairy Orchids.
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She also explains the use of the imagery: “The cockatoo is a very special animal to me, as well as my family, and to Noongars. It represents healing and it’s kind of like our connection to people, to our ancestors and people that have passed on.”
