WHALES will be a permanent fixture at Bennetts Beach, Hawks Nest, having materialised upon the western wall of the Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Surf Life Saving Club’s storage block, courtesy of local artist Jeanette Hart and members of the Myall River Art Walk.

In the ongoing quest to beautify the area using naturally-relevant designs and picturesque representations, the devil is in the details of this latest addition to the Art Walk.

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Composed of two panels affixed to the otherwise blank beige wall, they depict a small pod of humpback whales in the course of their migration, complete with calf in tow.

“The whales were painted to represent our amazing sea life that visits our coast,” Ms Hart explained to News Of The Area.

On the far left, there is a relatively small, but distinct, representation of the quietly beautiful gymea lilly, a plant endemic to coastal regions of NSW, including ours.

According to local Aboriginal tradition, there is a special link between the gymea lilly and the whales, owing to a naturally occurring co-incidence that has left its mark on local indigenous culture.

“Worimi People know that when the gymea lilly is flowering, the whales are migrating in Garuwa (Sea Country),” Worimi Elder Auntie Liz McEntyre told NOTA.

Recent spates of highly-offensive and ugly graffiti have also spurred the Art Walk Group to use art projects to cover up the misspent energies of vandals.

“Hopefully having something beautiful to represent our coastal town will help reduce the instances of graffiti occurring,” Ms Hart said.

By Thomas O’KEEFE