Reaching from the historic inland town of Mullewa, to the coastal townships located along the Brand Highway, the City of Greater Geraldton is one of Western Australia’s most diverse local government areas, home to nature reserves, agricultural land, historic islands and an internationally significant Port.  

Currently, the City is one of Western Australia’s major regional hubs, well-known as a tourism destination, attracting both locals and national, as a key stopover point for caravan and camping enthusiasts heading to the north of the State. Central to visitor attraction is the City’s cultural offer, rooted in the region’s indigenous and pioneering history. Recently, investment has been focussed on enhancing this cultural identity and bringing additional vibrancy to the region, in line with the vision and focus areas identified in the Growing Greater Geraldton Growth Plan (2017).

Fundamental to achieving these priorities is acknowledging the major role culture and the arts, particularly public art, plays in place creation and visitor attraction. The City manage a significant existing collection of public art which holds the potential to be a key asset in visitor attraction and community amenity. In order to leverage this opportunity, the City identified the need for an aspiration Public Art Strategy, incorporating a vision and set of themes, alongside practical actions to consolidate and guide the development of the collection for the next five years.  

element was appointed in late 2019 to develop the Public Art Strategy for the City of Greater Geraldton.  

The City owns and manages a diverse collection of public art, including memorial works and integrated art, collected over several decades. The diverse themes stemming from this varied collection requires unification under a single cohesive vision.

Bringing together findings from stakeholder engagement, a comprehensive collection review and desktop research, the Strategy identifies a series of overarching themes for public art across the Greater Geraldton region, taking into consideration the vastly different town centres of Greenough, Walkaway and Mullewa. A series of strategic and practical directions supplement the vision and themes, in order to guide the City in building a collection which reflects Geraldton’s identity and contributes meaningfully to cultural tourism opportunities within the region.

The Public Art Strategy provides direction to consolidate the collection, and ensure new works contribute positively to the collection and public realm.  

A vision and implementation plan addresses each of these areas specifically, acknowledging their importance and unique opportunities individually while ensuring a unified vision for the public art collection.

• A comprehensive literature review and site visit to establish understanding of place and local context considerations
• Stakeholder engagement with internal City teams via online surveying and in-person interviews
• Ongoing stakeholder meetings to interpret and synthesise sentiment and aspirations for public art in the City
• Delivery of a Public Art Strategy for endorsement by elected members