Sick of seeing a graffitied wall on his daily commute, Cam Plapp decided to do something about it.
The primary school teacher commutes from his home in Point Lonsdale to Geelong via Barwon Heads every weekday
Cam always considered a graffitied house on Golf Links Road to be an eyesore, so with the help of his daughter Freya, and the permission of its owners, he set about beautifying it.
The result is a stunning mural and more than 40,000 views of a Facebook mini-documentary that Cam posted.
“I drive past that wall every day to work and think ‘what an eyesore for a beautiful place that Barwon Heads is’,” he said.
“Sometimes you see something and just think that something needs to be done about it.”
Not only were the neighbours impressed, Powercor workers nearby also encouraged the pair during the five hours they spent painting the mural.
“The real winners were the response of the people,” Cam said.
“All of the neighbours came out and were so grateful. A lady across the road brought out biscuits and tea.”
Cam initially approached the people living in the house, but they were renting. A call to the real estate agent, who then made a call to the house owners gave the green light to proceed with the project.
“They are planning on demolishing the place but they said ‘there is heaps of graffiti on it so go for it and do what you want with it’,” Cam said.
Art runs in the Plapp family, with Cam teaching art and music at Nazareth Catholic Primary School in Grovedale and street art to kids via the Bluebird Foundation in South Geelong.
Freya is doing VCE at Sacred Heart and is described by her dad as “really arty”.
“I guess the best thing is that no one’s asked you to do it or paid you to do this wall,” Cam said.
“It’s just recognising that something looks ugly and someone’s just gone down and done it.”
Justin Flynn
