Captivating mural lights up corps wall at Delacombe
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
BY LERISSE SMITH
It began with a gigantic crack, and ended with a striking masterpiece.
Dominating the exterior landscape wall of Delacombe Corps in regional Victoria is a new towering ‘Love and Light’ mural, painted by street artist Damien Arena, which has been transformed from a large, fractured glass-tiled cross.
And it’s captivating children, families, passersby and the local community.
“What began as a refresh has gently grown into a meaningful point of community engagement,” says Captain Amy Jones, Corps Officer/Team Member of Greater Ballarat Salvos.
“The mural tells a story of light and love, closely tied to Ballarat’s own heritage. Using a miner’s lamp and layered symbolism, the artwork draws directly on the city’s history while inviting curiosity rather than providing neat or instant answers.
“The process itself was rich and collaborative, bringing together our local leadership team, divisional oversight, many informal community conversations, and a genuinely open creative partnership with Damien.”
Completed in just two days by Damien, the artwork is drawing people in – pausing, lingering and fostering connections as they pass by the Greenhalghs Road corps building in Ballarat’s south-west.
Naturally, conversations have sprung up too – especially among children.
“While the mural was being painted, local school students walked past during cross‑country training and stopped in awe, convinced they were watching something a bit magical unfold as the image took shape,” Amy says.
“It’s been a quiet but powerful reminder of how art can capture attention across generations.”
Inspiration for the mural came directly from those who know the corps the best – the congregation. The input of words and ideas was all-important in creating the special artwork.
“The theme of this year’s International Day of Prayer for Children was ‘Be The Light,’ so I brought that together with the mural because I spoke about how we, as a faith community, want to protect the light of our young people and keep them safe,” Amy reflects.
“We want to ensure we are doing whatever it takes to make sure that the light of our young people stays strong and stays burning, and they don’t ever feel dulled or put down by us. We’re an encouraging community.”
A moving component of the service involved Amy inviting the congregation to write names of children on a simple lantern graphic with a flame inside.
Inside the lantern, people wrote the names of kids connected to the corps’ faith community and kids the congregation knew.
Children who were there on that day were invited to come and write their own name, too, plus adults who wrote their names around the outside of the lantern.
“The names of local kids were written on the inside and outside of the drawing as a commitment to say we were a community that wants to stand with our young people and protect our young people,” she says. “Corps members were flocking down to the front of the corps to commit to that. It was quite a powerful moment.”
Introducing the mural to the wider community required a lengthy and thoughtful process.
Before Amy came on board as Corps Officer, Delacombe had been grappling with structural building renovation issues during 2024 and 2025. Sunday worship had to be held outside the building for a long time.
The congregation held services in the corps’ thrift store in Delacombe, and temporarily in the emergency services shed, where the emergency trucks are normally stored. The corps met for worship at the shed for almost a year.
“It was actually a really beautiful season of worship in a different space,” Amy reflects. “People came in and made the space homely. I have so much love and good memories for our time in there.”
The renovations demanded time, patience and care – including roof repairs and work to restore structural integrity, which was the biggest issue. Painting and recarpeting the entire corps were also major works undertaken.
It was during the roof and structural integrity work that the “gigantic” crack all the way through the exterior tiled cross occurred, she added.
While painting and carpeting works were underway, the decision was made to create a mural, but it needed to wait for Damien’s availability and to undertake the collaboration/idea gathering with the corps – a process they didn’t want to rush.
Faced with a choice, the leadership team had to decide to repair, replace, or cover the cracked tiled cross with something new. The decision was made to cover it up. One of the leadership team members, Kylie Watson, suggested doing something similar to what Geelong Salvos had done with their ‘Hope’ mural painted by Damien.
After discussions with the street artist and approval from the leadership team, the corps spent weeks earlier this year exploring with the congregation what images were meaningful to them as part of the mural creation.
Kylie, Fiona White, Corps Sergeant Major, and Amy pulled together all the idea gatherings and worked with Damien throughout the whole creative process. They communicated with the divisional leadership, the wider Delacombe leadership team and the corps community.
“We wanted to represent to the community what was important and how they understood God from that image,” Amy says. “Also, what sort of imagery reflected who we are on the inside to our community.”
The mural was officially unveiled on Friday 24 April.
“Damien is a talented street artist whose bold, eye-catching work can be found all over Australia and even overseas in Bali,” Amy emphasised.
“We feel pretty lucky to have him creating something special right here in Delacombe. It has been a genuine privilege to partner with Damien on this project, and we are thankful for the care, creativity, and skill he has brought to our community.”
Since then, the mural has inspired not just awe – but sparked a little fun too.
The corps launched a simple selfie challenge to invite broader awareness and participation, encouraging people not just to look at the mural, but to engage with it and share what they notice.
The prize? A $20 voucher to the local thrift store for people who shared and tagged their selfies.
“Community families have written on our social media posts and created a bit of buzz about it, saying they love it and are really excited by it,” Amy says. “Fiona was standing there one day taking a picture, and she had some guy honking his horn and giving the thumbs up! He loved the artwork.”
Special moments have unfolded, too.
Children from the church’s kids outreach program, Beans, were brought around to see the mural.
“The kids were all saying they loved it and they wanted a picture with it,” she says. “And they shared a prayer around it which was so lovely.”
