Georgie Ah Ling, Donald’s famous market gardener has been immortalised on the wall of the town’s “modern market” thanks to a Donald 2000 initiative and the creative talents of Melbourne-artist Heesco.
This incredible artwork tells Georgie Ah Ling’s story and his remarkable contributions to the Donald community. Through Hessco’s creativity, this mural beautifully captures a piece of the town’s history and celebrates the legacy of Georgie Ah Ling’s hard work and dedication.
George Ah Ling, affectionately known as Georgie, but also legally registered as Lau San or Ah Foo Ah Wah, came here in 1900 but went back to China, where he married and had 4 children. He returned to Australia in the late 1920s to look after his cousin, Low Boa Ling’s garden.
Georgie grew many vegetables and bought fruit from markets in Melbourne and Ballarat to resell locally. Produce was delivered by a horse-drawn wagon and watering was done by 2 large watering cans suspended from a yoke around his shoulders, filled from a channel and pumped from the dam in front of his hut.
Donald’s new mural features Georgie in these various poses of work, rest and play, and took only a short time to complete, now decorating the length of the IGA wall along side its carpark. And so far it has only moderately interfered with traffic as pedestrians and motorists alike pause to take in the incredible artwork.
The artist
Among the myriad of spectators to the progress were Donald’s year 7 students heading out on a street tour to meet the artist responsible for the mural, learning a great deal about him and the subject of his latest work.
Mongolian born, Heesco is an artist mostly known for his large murals and silo art and is used to painting on a much bigger scale. He also actively makes fine art, illustration, and graphic design related works.
Heesco researched Georgie extensively prior to commencement and used the information that he found as well as what the Donald community gave him for the inspiration for this mural.
The first portrait was made using a grid enlargement technique. Heesco explained to the visiting students the way he counted the bricks to help bring a small sketch to life on a large wall, also using a projector at night to sketch the other parts of the mural for accuracy and speed. There are around 5-7 different paint colours in the mural using spray paint as a hard wearing and quick drying medium.
The students were very impressed with their meeting with the artist, talking animatedly and asking myriad questions on the return walk to the school.
The initiative
This wonderful new artwork was another successful project from Donald 2000, in particular, Yvonne Brown, who pitched the initial idea to the committee, with grand visions of more artwork to come in the future.
The subject of the mural, Georgie himself, never came into question. With his community contribution, his “friend to all” reputation and historical significance to the town, the vote in his favour was unanimous. Donald’s modern-day embrace of multi-culturalism also makes Georgie’s story relevant to so many current residents of the town, who have ventured to this country from afar; picking up their roots and planting them in Donald to grow and flourish into the future.
And with Yvonne driving this mural to fruition, the first artwork has now been completed, thanks to funding from Horizons Local and Beyond and Esoteric.
The community thanks Donald 2000 and its dedicated members for all the thought, consideration and ultimately the hard work that goes into keeping the township of Donald relevant, fresh, and exciting.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 10 December 2024.
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