Gunnedah's Rainbow Serpent first project led by Kamilaroi women

This is a fact that Gloria Foley, Janet Wanless, June Cox, Cindy Foley, Shirley Long, Alison Cox and Rita Long are staunchly proud of, and they should be - the artwork took out first place in the division A of the Leo Kelly Arts and Culture Awards just last week.

The 9.2 metre sculpture in The Civic Centre's forecourt almost never came to be, but with patience and perseverance, a vision borne almost 20 years before, has finally been realised.

Read also:

The artwork features 32 handcrafted mosaic tiles illustrating koalas, turtles, cockatoos, lizards, fish, Aboriginal tools, the hands of Ms Cox's grandchildren, and the Red Chief, among other images.

The Kamilaroi women, alongside the now late Delma Jones, and Aboriginal leader Ellen Draper, became the core group of artists who met regularly for more than two years to create the glass mosaics that now adorn the surface of the water feature.

The original design of the Rainbow Serpent was developed by Glen Innes artist Max Powell and fellow artist Bronwyn McKean from drawings completed by the late Ms Draper.

Work started on the $274, 258 project started in February and was carried out by specialist Waterforms International and local contractors. The construction fencing was removed last week.

NVI met with the Kamilaroi women who said the artwork was "beautiful", "turned better than we thought it would" and was "worth the wait".

"We thought it was never going to happen," June Cox said.

The group agreed that the encouragement of Gunnedah Shire Council's Lauren Mackley had been one of the driving factors in getting the project up off the ground.

"If it wasn't for Lauren's time and effort and her attention to detail, it wouldn't have been so beautiful," Cindy Foley said.

Cindy's mother Gloria also pushed hard for it to happen.

"Mum made sure she let all of us girls know she was fighting for it no matter," Cindy said.

Cindy said people had been coming up to her in the street saying it was "the best thing that had happened in Gunnedah".

"Us women, we did this. We did this alone ... our names are forever going to be in Gunnedah for our grandchildren and our kids' kids," she said.

"Who would have thought that all us Kamilaroi women would have got an award for the council?

"I think we're more than proud. I think as women, we've accomplished something and followed through with it."

Ms Mackley said councillor Owen Hasler also played a key role in pushing for the project to be accomplished.

Cr Hasler said the water feature was "an extremely worthwhile cultural piece of artwork" and praised the "perseverance" and "belief" of the Kamilaroi women in the project and the subsequent award.

Ms Mackley said the award was "quite an honour" and a wonderful reward for the "passionate" women.

"It's better than I could have imagined. We had a very clear vision of how it could be and it exceeded that," she said.

The Local Government Week Awards judges commented that it was "an extraordinary story of persistence and admirable Aboriginal-led art".

"The capacity to engage not only with the women creating the sculpture but the support of the community is innovative," they wrote.

The Rainbow Serpent feature started as a public art project plan, designed by artists Max Powell and Bronwyn McKean.

The Two Rivers Arts Council (TRAC) successfully applied to the Australia Council for the Arts (CEAD grant) and carried out community consultation in 2001 to inform artwork designs for the linkage spaces within the cultural precinct.

This consultation was facilitated and managed by Jill Watkins and highlighted the community's strong connection to the river, local fauna and flora.

These elements became prominent features in Mr Powell's and Ms McKean's designs and the first two artworks to enter the creation phase at The Civic were the River Red Gum Tree (installed in 2002) and the Water Mural (installed in 2005).

Ellen Draper was the Red Chief Local Aboriginal Lands Council chair at the time, allowing for consultation with the Aboriginal community for the third project, which became the Rainbow Serpent water feature.

Ms Draper provided her own drawings as reference material for the final design and the project master plan of artworks was presented to the council in December 2001.

TRAC secured funding from the Indigenous Arts Fund (Ministry for the Arts) and engaged Mavis Stone and Mr Powell to deliver a design workshop in August 2002 to interested members of the Aboriginal community.

The workshop focused on the skills needed to design the circular mosaic elements and taught the art of glass mosaic. Participants were then invited to form an arts group to design and create all circular elements needed for the water feature.

The group of Aboriginal women, including Ellen Draper, Shirley Long, June Cox, Janet Wanless, Delma Jones,Gloria Foley, Alison Cox, Cindy Foley and Rita Long, continued to meet and create the circular mosaic tiles until 2008.

In December 2018, the Rainbow Serpent project was awarded $155,725 through the $100 million NSW Government Regional Cultural Fund, adding to the council's 54 per cent contribution to the total.

In 2016, the council approved funding of $25,000 for design and construction plans and in late 2018, allocated $150,000 to the project.

Background provided by Cr Owen Hasler.