Noel Fisher, The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper
O’Brien Street Cohuna was a busy place over Christmas as Lawrence and Mel Mathers’ home became a central focus for young and old as Cohuna’s own LEGO land came alive.
The couple first caught the Lego bug in 2018 after a Christmas visit to Mel’s parents. Her father had received a LEGO set as a gift. They thought it looked like fun and ever since, the couple have been building kits.
More than 500 people came from far and wide to view the Christmas spectacle. On the busiest night there were more than 200 people lining up to view the beautifully presented village complete with Christmas lights.
The Mathers also set an “I spy” game so that people could further interact with the display and appreciate the detail.
Mr Mathers said that they were surprised at the huge response the display had attracted.
“We never imagined just how popular this was going to be for the town,” he said.
“The biggest thing for us has been the happiness and enjoyment that the kids and adults are getting from it.
“People were coming from as far away as Kerang and Murrabit.”
Word spread quickly and people were coming back for repeat visits, often bringing others along.
“We have every one of the LEGO Modular Buildings that have been released since 2007, except the first three,” Mr Mather continued
“Every year they are bringing them out and we have had so much fun building them.
“Either Mel’s parents buy it, or we buy it, we don’t double up, we share.
“If Mel builds it, she pulls it down then sends it to her parents for them to rebuild it, they then pull it down and send it back and Mel rebuilds it, then it stays with us.
Ms Mathers said she had the builds sitting in the house and decided she wanted to share them, so this was the inspiration for the display.
“We have this perfect window here at the front of the house, so I thought to bring all the pieces together and build a little display and then thought to light them up,” she said.
Ms Mathers works at Gannawarra Shire Council and to give an air of familiarity to the setup she coloured a beard onto the mayor miniature featured, to make the miniature character look more like Cr Garner Smith.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 9 January 2025.
