“The blues represent the Bennett Springs waterway and a sandy beach edge,” BKB Design artist Brian said.
“The animals are local creatures that represent the surrounding community, while the circles and meeting places show diversity in the children and staff who attend the centre.”
MercyCare Bennett Springs Centre Manager Jacenta Booth said the mural carried a lot of significance for the centre and paid homage to both the local community and neighbouring flora and fauna.
“The animals we choose that link to our area is the Motorbike frog (Kooyar), Western Pygmy Perch (Djildjit), Butterfly (Bindi Bindi) and the Pink and Grey Galah (Djarkal narkal),” she said.
“We also choose the turtle (Budgial), as it matches with our waterways, and it is a big part of our centre with an educator having such a big passion of turtles.
“The waterway in the mural represents the Bennett Brook, it is a stream which runs from Whiteman Park to the Swan River (Derbal Yerrigan Bilya).
“The Bennett Brook catchment covers Bennett Springs and many other surrounding suburbs.”
The mural appears on a wall in the toddler and kindy outside space, which can be seen from the centre carpark.
Since its unveiling, the mural has garnered a lot of positive feedback from families.
“The families love how bright the mural is, how it stands out and has meaning to our centre,” she said.
“There has been so many comments about how talented the artist is.
“It was quite funny and beautiful to watch the children see the mural for the first time.
“To see them ‘chat’ to their peers, smile and then connect the other animal art pieces to our mural.”
Jacenta was proud to see the project come to life following months of collaboration with both the artist and staff from MercyCare’s Aboriginal Pathway and Early Learning Services teams.
“I feel really honoured as a Manager to have such an amazing, meaningful art piece at our centre.
“The team have been on an amazing journey which started from our Reconciliation plan.
“We are learning as a team with a lot of support and knowledge from (MercyCare Aboriginal Pathway Organisational Lead) Lorraine Woods, having access to learning and development and attending courses to build our knowledge is amazing.
“To have the opportunity for each manager to share their ideas, achievements and knowledge is so wonderful. We are lucky having a supported team, where we can safely learn and guide one another.”
