Pambula Village opens history and art trail

It's an opportunity to discover some of the stories behind some of the village's oldest commercial and residential buildings, as well as seeing the artworks.

"The truth is sometimes more remarkable than anything you could make up," local business owner and history project sub-committee member Deb Evans said.

"We run our framing business out of the building where Sir William McKell was born over 130 years ago. His rise out of bubonic plague-ridden poverty to become the second Australian-born Governor General in 1947 is nothing short of astonishing."

READ ALSO:

The history and mural trail winds through the village precinct of Pambula and is self-guided with QR coded, recorded information at each stop.

It is free, available at any time, and at your own pace. The walk takes in 22 historic and 11 mural sites around the town.

Pambula's history is rich and varied, starting with its Indigenous stories, then in much more recent times those of the English, Irish, Lebanese, Chinese and German immigrants who arrived to call this district home.

Greg Whitby said the village has everything from floods, fires, wars, links to Charles Darwin and Catholic saints.

"It's great that people can now come and learn all about it. It's the perfect interactive history lesson for students too, with all the interesting bits left in."

The tour starts at the JD Building (currently the home of Pambula Butcher - JD's Meats) where you click on the QR codes to hear the stories and follow the trail.

Subcommittee member Michelle Pettigrove said it took about 90 minutes to really make the most of the tour including the 11 mural sites which feature the diverse large-scale works of local professional artists.

"This project gives not just visitors but locals the opportunity to learn a bit about the unique past of Pambula Village. You can walk past an old building every day and not know the human story it holds," Ms Pettigrove said.

"This history and mural trail aims to embrace Pambula's colourful past as well as celebrate the creativity and potential of its future. We could have doubled the number of stories, Pambula is bursting with them."

Work was funded by the Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund through the Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery fund, Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal and Pambula Community Bank.

The project was facilitated by Pambula Business Chamber with the support of local historians, Angela George and Pat Raymond.

Sign up for our breaking news alerts and free weekly newsletter for the best in local news