WA sports icons including the late Cameron McCarthy have been depicted in a larger-than-life mural painted at the former AFL player’s watering hole in Fremantle.
The Federal Hotel unveiled the artpiece this month as a tribute to local sporting legends and an array of other Western Australians who have reached the top of their fields.
Alongside McCarthy are well-known and recognisable faces including Matildas captain Sam Kerr, former prime minister Bob Hawke, zookeeper Steve Irwin and Barry Humphries dressed as his beloved character Dame Edna.
It was a vision from publican and owner Nik Jurin that started as a nod to Australia II’s 1983 America’s Cup triumph and quickly grew to encompass more than a dozen State icons, each with their own connection to the southern suburbs.
Titled “One for the Road”, Mr Jurin said it showed the group having one last drink at the drawcard hotel in central Fremantle.
“It’s just a sort of tribute to people who’ve made the top of their profession past and present,” he said.
“It has many meanings — in terms of one last drink, one last dance before you head to the pearly gates. There’s many connotations and you can pick your own.”
The idea was a year in the making but artists Jacob “Shakey” Butler and Joe Boin AKA “Art by destroy” put the wall art together in just eight days, completing the mural earlier this month.
Butler, a full-time artist, said the collaborative project gradually evolved into a celebration of local life.
“We just kept on getting more ideas and throwing more people into the mix,” he said.
“It started off with the (America’s Cup) blokes and then I think Sam Kerr and Cathy Freeman — we wanted to celebrate some well-loved female athletes,
“From there it just kept evolving.”
Butler specialises in history and portrait paintings and said it was a rare opportunity to have creative free rein in realising another person’s vision.
“That was the best part,” he said.
“You never really know how these things are going to be received. You try and do the best to put them in a positive light, which is what we’re trying to do.”
Mr Jurin said former Fremantle player McCarthy — who frequented The Federal Hotel — was a late addition to the line-up of figures after his shock death in May.
“I did not know him at a social level but obviously I had met with him on several occasions,” he said.
“He was always very polite, a lovely young man who achieved the top of his profession.”
Mr Jurin said he was ecstatic with the final look of the mural, which now sits atop the venue’s courtyard.
“I’m extremely happy,” he said.
“It took me a year to get these two (artists) together and I’m absolutely ecstatic; the boys are fantastic.”
