A life-size mural of a Belgian Shepherd Malinois and a German Shepherd bursting through a wall jumps at you when walking into No. 1 Security Forces Squadron Williamtown’s military working dog section.
Military police Corporal Zarah Goldski designed the 2m-wide mural, which was painted on the break room wall in June.
A graphic designer before enlisting, Corporal Goldski has created coin designs, exercise patches and artwork for the RAAF Alpine, Ski and Snowboard Association’s equipment.
Leading Aircraftwoman Lauren Rouse-Upjohn helped paint the mural and took them 12 hours to complete.
Corporal Goldski said it was her first time paining at work.
“I think it’s cool they let me take a paintbrush to a wall when they’d never seen anything I’d done before – they were very trusting,” Corporal Goldski said.
A drawing of two dogs was lost after the section was repainted during a COVID-19 stimulus project, so kennel manager Sergeant Tony Weiler decided to revamp the wall.
“I asked Corporal Zarah if she could throw something together,” Sergeant Weiler said.
Leading Aircraftwoman Rouse-Upjohn said it was going to be similar to the previous artwork but grew bigger as they added more elements, starting with grey scale and ending up with jets flying through storm clouds.
“Each time we added something to it we’d hear how much better it looked,” Leading Aircraftwoman Rouse-Upjohn said.
It had had a positive effect on colleagues.
“It’s been a nice boost of morale in the section; having freshly painted walls and a new cool design helps make them feel better about coming to work,” Leading Aircraftwoman Rouse-Upjohn said.
Sergeant Weiler said everyone was impressed with the detail of the dogs.
“It really lifts the place up,” Sergeant Weiler said.
“We are lucky to have two artistically talented people, because a stick figure is about all I can draw.”
