An exciting milestone has been reached with the Daylesford Men’s Shed (DMS) assembling its first “Wombat Tree” with hand painted wombats from the students at the Daylesford Dharma school.
The Wombat Tree project is an ambitious plan to liven up the Daylesford shopping precinct over the festive season. The plan is to have approximately 1000 hand painted wombats displayed on 23 “wombat trees” which will decorate the shopping precinct of Daylesford.
The decorative wombats build on Daylesford heritage (formerly call Wombat) and its links to the Wombat forest.
Men’s Shed president Bob Thannhauser said, “Shed members responded to community concerns over a number of years about the lack of engaging street decorations during the Christmas period. The Shed is now on track to deliver a unique experience which involves the region’s young people and community groups.”
The wombats have been made in the Shed using computer controlled routers. They will hang on illuminated trees manufactured by Shed members. Local students and community groups are involved in painting the wombats and the trees.
DMS member Brian Murphy, has co-ordinated the design and manufacture of the trees. Brian has used his engineering expertise to ensure the trees will look great and be robust and safe. Brian said “DMS members have put in hundreds of hours of effort getting everything to this point. We are now distributing trees and wombats to local schools and community groups for painting and decorating. We look forward to seeing what artistic pieces they come up with. Hopefully the finished product will be fun and colorful.”
The Daylesford Men’s Shed has teamed with Daylesford Rotary and Hepburn Shire to plan and deliver the project. Major sponsors are the Daylesford District Community Bank and Daylesford Rotary.
The trees should be rolled out into the streets of Daylesford around the end of November.
Although most the wombats have been allocated, community groups that wish to participate in the project should contact DMS by email daylesfordmensshed@gmail.com, or call Rotary President, Terri Oprean on 0414657461.
