Hard work: Nick Goulden, Onisimo Mukodi, Kirra Tougher, Julia Druitt and Alex Hughes on a brand new footbridge in Horseshoe Lagoon ahead of Sunday night's opening of Moama Lights.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Returning due to popular demand, Moama Lights will be lighting up the bush from 6pm on Sunday evening.
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This new show produced by Mandylights features brand new local stories, artists and performers and will be taking place among the historic red gums at Horseshoe Lagoon.
Murray River Council has been revitalising the area over the past months, replacing the footbridges with three-metre-wide steel bridges which are designed to cater for shared access for pedestrians and cyclists.
The eastern and western bridges have new viewing bays, offering ideal viewpoints of the picturesque lagoon just in time for the lights to launch this Sunday night.
The alignment of the new foot bridges has shifted slightly from the previous footbridges to weave through the red gums with very little impact to the existing woodland vegetation.
The footbridges project was made possible with the funding from Australian Government Local Roads and Community Infrastructure and Regional Growth Fund, NSW Crown Reserves Improvement Fund and Murray River Council and have been completed in time for Sunday’s opening night of the Moama Lights.
Mayor Chris Bilkey said council was excited to lift the curtain on the event once again.
“Set to the backdrop of our newly upgraded footbridges, we’re excited for our visitors and locals to experience this magical event,” he said.
“Once again, the event offers a local flavour; connecting people with stories, visuals and sounds inspired by our past, our present and our people.”
“And with a brand-new story, this year’s lights experience is set to be bigger and better than ever!”
Students from St Joseph’s College have also taken great delight in designing and decorating lantern artworks for this year’s spectacular.
Twenty five Year 9 students took part in the lantern project as part of their Personal Best subject studies.
This year the class has been working closely with the Bridge Art Project, and saw the opportunity to be involved with Moama Lights as a chance to further extend and enhance their learning around protecting our planet.
Once completed, BAP will showcase acclaimed Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, as well as Indigenous visual storytellers and emerging artists of all backgrounds to tell the story of humankind in Australia through contemporary art.
St Joseph’s College visual arts and communications teacher Allison O’Brien said the Moama Lights lantern project aligned beautifully with their Personal Best studies and their community partnership with the BAP.
“As part of our work with the Bridge Art Project, we are looking at what needs to be healed and protected and who needs to be truly seen and listened to,” Ms O’Brien said.
“In decorating these lanterns, our students drew inspiration from the active rehabilitation of Indigenous food, fibres, flora and fauna and focused on the theme of healing creation and restoring history, both Indigenous and untold histories.
“This is a theme of the St Joseph’s College ‘Living Justice - Living Peace’ charter which aligns so closely with the aims of both the Bridge Art Project and Moama Lights.”
Students from seven schools participated in the Moama Lights colouring-in competition, incorporating the activity into their art classes, or as an extension of their Indigenous history discussions.
From there, each school selected their favourite 25 creations, and those students were then asked to decorate a Moama Lights lantern.
Two hundred and forty lanterns, all individually decorated by Echuca Moama students, will adorn the Horseshoe Lagoon boardwalk for the duration of the world-class light and sound show.
Light it up: St Joseph's students, staff and Bridge Art Project members with the lanterns that will feature in the Moama Lights.
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