A hand-painted tourist map, believed to be the largest of its kind in NSW, has been commissioned to take pride of place on the wall, which belongs to the Hastings Co-op IGA complex.

Local artists Jo Davidson and Stephen Killick will design and paint the mural, with a little help from the community. The map will comprise four 2.4m by 1.2m panels detailing the area from the coast to Comboyne, with one panel dedicated entirely to Wauchope.

Mayor Peter Besseling said the project would help put Wauchope on the map - literally - highlighting popular attractions and helping create a new, vibrant space in Hastings Street.

“I think the mural is a fantastic project,” Cr Besseling said. “The fact that people will be able to sit down and look at it is going to be terrific because I understand after speaking to the artists that the more you look, the more you will see. It will be a real asset for the Wauchope community.”

Hastings Co-op marketing and communications manager Tim Walker said it would be a magnificent way to highlight our rivers, country drives, community settlements and tourist attractions.

“It will also be a terrific piece of artwork produced by local artists with help from the local community,” he said. Hastings Co-op board chair Julie Muller was equally enthusiastic. “This is a great project and we cannot wait to see what the finished mural will look like,” she said. 

To ensure maximum community “ownership”, local residents of an artistic bent are being invited to grab a paint brush and join the artists to do some of the preliminary painting at Wauchope Arts Hall on Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25.

They would love some helpers of senior high school age and above. Obviously some sort of experience in painting of the artistic variety would be useful. The artists will then work on the mural privately for a month for so.

A definite date has yet to be set for its unveiling, although this will probably be some time in August or September. Cr Besseling said this was the third joint project between the council, the Wauchope placemaking champions team, Wauchope Chamber of Commerce, Wauchope Community Arts Group, Wauchope Progress Association and local volunteers, all of which were helping to beautify and promote the area.

The first project has already been completed, which was the decorative planter boxes installed in High Street on Saturday.

The second is banners for flagpoles on the eastern side of Wauchope, which have been ordered and are expected to arrive in the near future.