By HARRY CLARKE
VISITORS to the newly refurbished Chinchilla Cultural Precinct are being met with a most stunning artwork produced by one of the town’s proudest cultural exports, indigenous artist Anthony “Boy” Turnbull.
Chinchilla on Charley’s, a vibrant, floor-to-ceiling mural which adorns the front entrance of the centre, is Turnbull’s homage to Charley’s Creek, which forms north of Chinchilla and runs through the town before meeting the Condamine River.
The mural is a blown up replica of the original Chinchilla on Charley’s piece and is the main feature of a $8.4 million revitalisation of the Chinchilla Cultural Precinct and Fuller Place, a public area in the centre of Chinchilla’s CBC which fronts the local cinema, art gallery, library and council offices.
Turnbull, who attended the official opening of the new facilities, said the piece was inspired by the natural features which characterise the Chinchilla district.
“It was commissioned by Broadspectrum when I was working for them and it was part of the Reconciliation Action Plan that they have every year,” he said.
“They wanted to know if I’d be interested in doing an art piece and working with the students of Chinchilla State High School. I had a vision straight away of Charley’s Creek.
“Charley’s Creek was named after the Aboriginal man who was with the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt when he first came through the area in the 1840s.
“You’ve got kangaroo prints where they’ve gone through country and you’ve got different areas like the grasslands and the little water holes. Melon holes are also all around Chinchilla.
“Down the bottom there is a meeting place where you can see people gathering.
“There’s water moving through where they’re camped, you’ve got people sitting around, there’s a woman digging for yams, or she could even be digging for a goanna.
“Then I’ve got the night sky, there’s old mate playing the didgeridoo, and there’s a brolga sitting over there, kangaroos and emus moving around. And there are some bottle trees on this country.”
Turnbull has two additional works currently on display at Chinchilla’s Lapunyah Art Gallery, which has been refurbished as part of the Chinchilla Cultural Precinct upgrade.
Lapunyah is a botanical name for the white gum which is abundant around Chinchilla.
The gallery’s volunteer president, Helen Dennis, who also has two of her own pieces on display, said the gallery upgrade would help to attract tourists and showcase local artists as well as touring exhibitions.
“It’s an amazing new facility which I hope the community will utilise to its utmost capacity,” Dennis said.
“It’s not just an art gallery, it’s an art space and small event space. It’s a space where people can come to be creative.
“Art galleries are not just about visual arts, they’re about all strands of arts, especially in contemporary arts practice, you’re going to see all different types of things like digital art and video art.”
All bar one councillor from the Western Downs Regional Council were able to attend the opening of the new Chinchilla Cultural Precinct upgrades, which were funded by the council and the Federal Government.
Also in attendance were Queensland Member for Callide Bryson Head and Bill McCutcheon OAM, who was the last serving mayor of the former Chinchilla Shire Council and who oversaw the establishment of the Fuller Place cultural centre at Chinchilla.
“It’s nice to get it refurbished. It’s been a very serviceable area for many, many years now and it honours a great man in Harvey Fuller, who was our mayor here for many years,” McCutcheon said.
“It needed a refurbishment to brighten the whole place up and this has certainly done that.”
Outgoing Western Downs mayor Paul McVeigh, who announced he’d be retiring at next year’s Queensland local government elections, said the upgrade would offer an attractive public area for Chinchilla locals and visitors for years to come.
“What an absolute privilege it is to be standing here beside Bill McCutcheon OAM who did the first opening of this place many years ago, at the opening here today.
“It is significant for our community. It’s going to be a destination point where our community can come together, socialise, invest in the arts and grow the community.
“We’ve got two great things that happened through my term in Chinchilla.
“I always say that our best accomplishment is being a united council that delivers for our community, but some of the physical things are this place here that we’ve opened today, but also the Chinchilla Botanic Parkland, which the community is really utilising.”