THE Wauchope Community has mobilised to ensure that Wauchope is included on the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail.

This public art community project comprises of 50 large scale one-metre high fibreglass koala sculptures, featuring original artist designs, located across the Port Macquarie Hastings region.

The “Community Champions for Wauchope” is an initiative spearheaded by Wauchope Chamber of Commerce and comprises a group of people committed to seeing the Wauchope community benefit from the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail.

An invitation has been extended to selected businesses in the district to each contribute to a joint community fund to support the cost of having one, possibly two Wauchope koala sculptures in Bain Park.

One of the koala sculptures will feature an Aboriginal design “Goolah” painted by Aboriginal visual art students at Wauchope TAFE.

Peta Simmons, Bennetts Steel; Guy Satterthwaite, Digital Designs; Guy Jones, Bunyah Aboriginal Land Council; Jeannette Rainbow; Kathy Jones, Forestry Corporation of NSW; Belinda Perkins, Meltique have already committed, with a number of interested organisations expected to be finalised shortly.

Bob Sharpham, President of the Koala Preservation Society Australia says, “Hello Koalas is a tremendous asset for us because it brings the koala situation to the attention of the community and it identifies who we are and what we are doing to save the koalas.”

The proposed benefits of the sculptures are:

• Play a key role in bringing a unique designed piece of public art (and possibly two) to the Wauchope CBD for everyone to enjoy.
• Drive locals and visitors to the Wauchope CBD to see the sculptures and spend some time and dollars shopping and dining locally.
• Put Wauchope on the Official Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail map, 200,000 copies to be distributed nationally when the Trail launches in September.