This is one of my favourite pictures; I use it as the wallpaper on my computer.   Like so many murals, it has some damage – a scratch down the centre, and another on the boy’s hand.   The letters IRD stand for Inland Revenue Dept, the Government tax department in New Zealand.

The boy seems to be painting the town in more eco-friendly colours.  In the background is the spire of the Presbyterian First Church, and to its left are the terraces of the City Council office building.    The mural itself is in an alleyway near the centre of the town, just near one of the Backpackers.

This mural is the on opposite wall to the first, and appears to have been done by a different artist.   There has been some discolouring to the figure’s trousers, and some damage to the lower half of the painting – possibly by someone carrying something along the alleyway.   He’s apparently been interrupted while viewing the landscape – which he can see, but we can’t.

The fern frond up on the left of the picture is called a Koru in the Maori language, and is used as a symbol in a good deal of Maori art.   

This is one of many bus-stop stands in the city which has a mural on it.    They were mostly painted by a man called John Noakes, who did the work virtually for the cost of the materials, and for a love of brightening up the look of the town.    This one shows an Edwardian cricket-player looking a little surprised at having the ball in his hand.

This is an example of the ‘bad’ or perhaps the ‘oddball.’     It’s part of a much bigger mural that extends under a railway bridge in Wilkie Road, an industrial area.   The mixture of styles doesn’t work for me, but it might be to some people’s taste. 

This is definitely oddball.   It used to be at the entrance to the Backpackers in View St (a street without any real view anymore, but still extremely steep).    I suspect the fact that the character might have been copyrighted meant that it had to be removed.   There’s now a nice bland white wall. 

This is one of two murals for Age Concern Otago.    I’m not sure that I want to look like these old people, but the thing still works.   Notice the window that’s been incorporated into the mural.

This is also in the oddball category.   I have no idea what it means, and why the sheep should be cut in two.   It’s on the same wall as the mural of Queen Victoria, below.

It’s a bit difficult to photograph the Queen.   She’s high up on the wall, for some reason, and the tree on the left, and the branch on the right get in the way of a good photo.   It’s also hard to know why we need a mural of her in this particular place (on the side of an old building that houses an antique shop, a popular restaurant and various other small businesses).    She’s ignoring the car park that’s below her, and looking across the road to where there’s a statue of her – very similar to this mural – in the Queen’s Gardens (or what’s left of them: a road has been built through the middle).  

These are just some of the photos I have of Dunedin’s murals.   Perhaps I’ll do a second article showing some more…