Stop! That’s your family!

Coincidence?  Fate?  Serendipity?  Call it what you like, but it happened.

My husband Ron and I were passing through Bowen in North Queensland recently, when we got a bit lost and took a wrong turn.

We had never intended to drive down Williams Street.

But fate must have intended it for us.

As we proceeded along Williams Street, I came face to face with a mural of a scene that I recognised.

“Stop!  Stop Ron!  That’s your family!”

There on the wall, was a painted mural of an image I was familiar with:

 

Lovelock Mural Bowen Qld

 

Part of Ron’s family was from Bowen, and some years ago the Bowen Historical Society sent me a copy of a photo that this scene was taken from:

 

Lovelock family photo

 

The photo above includes Agnes Lovelock (wife of George Paul Lovelock), her mother Mary Cheffins, and Agnes and George’s two daughters: Phyllis (standing) and Florence (Flossie) Lovelock.  Agnes and George married in 1900, and Phyllis and Florence were born in 1901 and 1905 respectively.  The photo may have been taken around 1915-20.

It was taken in the front yard of their house at Herbert Street, Bowen.

The photo has a tear in the bottom right hand corner, and the mural has been painted to show a shadow where the tear is in the photo.

The mural was painted by Christine Spain in 1992.

Bowen murals

It turns out that Bowen is famous for its murals.  Some of the murals were painted by local artists, some by students, and one by Ken Done (or at least designed by him).

There are apparently 25 murals, of mostly historical scenes, and details of 19 of them are on the Whitsundays Regional Council Bowen Murals web page.

The Bowen murals are ranked 25 on RACQ’s list of 150 Must Dos, so next time you are travelling through north Queensland, detour off the main highway into Bowen and enjoy the historical murals.

RACQ’s site states that there are weekly guided walking tours of the murals, that leave every Wednesday morning from the Municipal Library, the location of the first mural.  Tours run from April to December.

 

Use the map below to take a ‘virtual stroll’ through Bowen streets using Google Street View and see some of the murals in situ (zoom in, then drag the little yellow man onto the map where you’d like to start).

 

[mappress mapid=”3″]

 

Has something unexpected like that ever happened to you?  It certainly was an amazing feeling!

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Heather Cox

    Amazing story and wonderful photo and mural.

  2. Stella Murphy

    I got goosebumps Joan – how great! Fate definitely has a hand in everything.

  3. Margaret Culloty

    Wonderful surprise Joan, perhaps a quilt could be designed next!

Leave a Reply