Passerbys have started to engage with a new mural being painted in the Gulgong CBD. The blank wall on the corner of Herbert and Queen streets behind the Commercial Hotel and a short walk around the block from the Gulgong Holtermann Museum is coming alive. Central West regional artist Sam Paine has been expressively painting Tommy the dog from Henry Lawson’s story The Loaded Dog. It looks like he’s in full pooch swing with the bomb cartridge in his mouth.
Mark your diary for this year’s Henry Lawson Festival on the June long weekend Friday 6 to Sunday 8 June. Gulgong streets will be filled with fun for all including Henry Lawson’s birthday cake cutting, music, performances, games, the spectacular street parade, market stalls, poetry and short story readings and more within the Henry Lawson Festival Program.
The launch event for this new mural is scheduled as part of the Festival program at 2pm on Saturday 7 June along with children’s activities throughout the day including pavement art hosted by local Scouts at the Memorial Hall on Herbert Street.
The Festival celebrates the life and work of Australian poet Henry Lawson. The Gulgong /Mudgee area is very important in Lawson’s works, with over 200 of his poems and short stories mentioning the towns, Lawson’s relatives, friends, teachers and neighbours, mostly by their real names. The Lawson family lived in the area from the time Henry was 6 months old until he was seventeen.
The Henry Lawson Society of NSW was successful in their application of the Lawson Heritage Mural with project funding of $2800 supported by the NSW Government’s Country Arts Support Program through Arts OutWest.
The Country Arts Support Program (CASP) is a devolved funding program coordinated locally by the 15 regional arts development organisations in NSW on behalf of the NSW Government (Via Create NSW).
In 2025 seven arts activities across the NSW Central West are sharing $17,000 in CASP funding for small locally initiated arts activities.
Images captured by Arts OutWest Media Associate Gus Armstrong of artist Sam Paine creating the CASP supported mural commemorating Henry Lawson in Gulgong’s CBD.
