Monash Mural

1 September 2010

  • Pro Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Director of the Clayton and Caulfield campuses Professor Rob Willis said the wall art project has been an enormous success
  • Students from the Caulfield Park Community School designed the mural
  • The wall adjacent to the Caulfield campus before it became the site for street art

There has been many a portrait of First World War military commander, engineer and scholar Sir John Monash - the University's namesake. His face even appears on our $100 dollar bill.

The latest image of the general has been created as graffiti art in a laneway beside the Caulfield Plaza adjacent the Caulfield campus.

The project was funded by the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Rob Willis through the Caulfield student experience network and was co-ordinate by the University's Crime Prevention coordinator, who teamed up with the local Police Crime Prevention Unit and Caulfield Park Community School.

The school agreed to invite students to design a Sir John Monash mural as part of an end-of-year assessment and gave them the chance to turn it into a reality under the watchful eye of professional street artist, 'Jason'.

Monash Crime Prevention Coordinator Craig Mentiplay said until now the campus experienced ongoing issues with graffiti at the Caulfield Plaza site, which was costly to continually remove.

"The idea was to rejuvenate the area by establishing some pride and ownership by the users of the area. One way to achieve this was to encourage local artists to participate in the design of their own environment," Mr Mentiplay said.

Pro Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Director of the Clayton and Caulfield campuses Professor Rob Willis said the project had been an enormous success. "This project has involved the entire community, including local school students, law enforcement authorities and has had the backing of the University. We are very proud of this achievement as it highlight's our ability to engage with a range of stakeholders," Professor Willis said.

"It's been a great initiative and the enthusiasm of the students and their artistic ability has been appreciated. The mural has been praised by many in the community and is a contemporary acknowledgement of Sir John Monash and his contribution to society."

Professor Willis said the success of the project had led to a number of businesses in the area wanting to engage with the University to create wall art throughout the precinct.

The Faculty of Art and Design has agreed to become involved in an ongoing basis to support and encourage the mural project as part of the campus achievement program.