The Ocean Grove History Murals

Back in 1999 I was approached by Wally and Victoria Higgins to provide some historic Ocean Grove photographs to ‘decorate’ the walls of the extended building housing Coles Supermarket.  It was part of the planning agreement – they had to replace large boring blank brick walls with something interesting.  They were interested in history and after some discussion they agreed to something better than a series of photographs – I proposed a storyboard history of Ocean Grove in words and images and the project was commissioned by Wally and Victoria Higgins of Jelena Cove Pty Ltd.

It was an opportunity to display some of my favourite images and to show some of the invisible history of Ocean Grove as so much of the built history has long since been demolished.

Unfortunately some ‘revamping’ of Coles with a new side door and other ‘features’ resulted in the relocation of some of the murals which totally destroyed the storyboard of the murals.  At the time a booklet had been published containing the murals – the order of the panels no longer match the book!

The original layout:-

• 21 murals in seven groups of three
• The first 5 groups commence at the north east corner and appear on the rear and side walls of the building.  These groups are a timeline / story of the early formation and development of Ocean Grove through to the Proclamation of the Township in 1958.  Each group is self contained however they make a total story in sequence:-
  • Group 1 – Early history, Ideas, Planning & Formation
  • Group 2 – Accommodation, Entertainment & Attractions
  • Group 3 – The Community
  • Group 4 – Changes / Progress
  • Group 5 – Growth
• There are two groups of murals on the front wall in The Terrace
  These two groups are independent of the other five and are also self contained, however together they tell the story of The Terrace:-
  • Group 6 – Why The Terrace became the main shopping area
  • Group 7 – Views IN and FROM The Terrace

The history of Ocean Grove has once again become ‘visible’ for all to enjoy.

Thank you – Wally and Victoria.

The murals were officially ‘unveiled’ by Cr Rob Binnie in August 1999.

The Murals are dark blue (text and images) on a cream background.  Although beautifully reproduced, they are hard to beat in their original sepia or colour.  I looked at many options for producing a video but the amount of text that went with the images just wouldn’t work, so I’ve split it into a few files.

1. A PDF file of the original booklet The Ocean Grove History Murals
2. An MP4 video including a Vintage Style presentation with transitions [101 Mb]
3. An MP4 video with Basic Style and transitions [77 Mb]

I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work – this is my first attempt at putting a video on my web site.  According to the instructions you should be able to play them online or download them.  We’ll both find out together!

The Vintage Style video – The Ocean Grove History Murals [larger file and nicer background] [wpvideo KjPjnsoH]

The Basic video – The Ocean Grove History Murals [smaller file and plain background] [wpvideo mlgEDwCq]

Enjoy!