New art installations at Wangaratta station acknowledge local culture and history

Inland Rail commissioned the three new public art pieces at the state heritage listed station to meet state heritage planning requirements to acknowledge the cultural heritage and historical operation of the railway station in the upgraded station.

The selected works reflect the cultural and heritage values of the local area.

The successful artists and installations, include:

Mirring Leerpeen – pedestrian underpass mural

Yorta Yorta artist Tommy Day’s colourful mural for the underpass embodies the theme of travel through its depiction of movement across the landscape, symbolising the journeys taken by those who pass through the underpass. The design reflects the colours of the country familiar to the area and reflects the sun rising and setting.

Journey – Norton St entrance to pedestrian underpass

Created by artists Aunty Kim Wandin and Chris Joy – who make up Murrup Biik – ‘Journey’ consists of three white bronze discs mounted on steel poles of various heights and sizes and representing Aboriginal people’s journeys across Country as trade routes which became the transport routes of the colony. Their form references signage or signals, symbolising arrival, welcome to place and a site of gathering.

The Lifters – rail yard garden

Wangaratta’s rail history is commemorated in Melbourne artist, Robbie Rowlands’s sculpture for the rail yard garden. It celebrates rail workers and railway infrastructure by linking the worker and the infrastructure through the specialised tool, the rail tong. Stacked on top of each other, the tongs create a structure that reflects the human body, with the repetitive form appearing spine-like.

The art installations were selected by the Wangaratta Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and representatives from Inland Rail, with contributions from Yorta Yorta National Aboriginal Corporation and local first nations stakeholders.