Paint Australia Beautiful – Shortlist Finalists 2025

Bexley Public School (GRADES Kinder-6):

The proposed mural is a vibrant, nature-inspired artwork that celebrates the unique biodiversity of Bexley, and shares a vision for a cleaner, more sustainable Australia. Designed for a primary school wall, the mural is divided into three flowing panels – past, present and future, depicting the deep connection between people, nature and Country.

The left panel honours Aboriginal culture with the rainbow serpent, native bushland and totemic animals, like the powerful owl, reminding us that caring for Country is an ancient, ongoing responsibility. The middle panel features local children, both Aboriginal and non-indigenous, working together to protect their environment by planting trees and reducing plastic waste, surrounded by familiar native plants and pollinators. The final panel shows a tree of life symbolising community, renewal and hope. Each panel incorporates indigenous elements, embedding cultural knowledge into the school environment.

This mural was chosen to visually inspire students and the wider community to appreciate local nature and take action to protect it. It reflects the school’s commitment to environmental education, cultural inclusion and community pride. The mural fosters a deep sense of ownership, identity and care for Country. It’s a lasting reminder that when we work together, guided by traditional wisdom and contemporary action, we help create a healthier, more sustainable future for all!

St Columbkille’s Catholic Primary School Corrimal (GRADES 1-6): 

Our school’s mural design is inspired by the vision of a cleaner, more sustainable Australia, told through the lens of children’s imaginations. From the beginning, the goal was to create something that wasn’t just about art, but about connection—to nature, to each other, and to the future. We wanted a design that the students could truly see themselves in.

The mural is nature-inspired, featuring vibrant plants, animals, oceans, and skies. At its heart are two central elements: a pair of hands holding the planet and an hourglass, symbolizing care, urgency, and the passage of time. These are painted more realistically to ground the message. Surrounding them is a joyful, colourful chaos—a burst of biodiversity—entirely based on the children’s own drawings. We had multiple student submissions, and rather than choose just one, we combined elements from many to celebrate diversity—not just in the artwork, but in nature itself.

At first, the process was difficult. Bold colours, black outlines, and simplified shapes made it possible for students to bring it to life with their own hands. The final design isn’t just about environmental awareness—it’s a collaboration, a learning moment, and a legacy that belongs to them and the community.

Beaconhills College (GRADES 3+5): 

Our artwork was created by our Nature club, with 6 submissions we have blended them together to create our final piece. It shows the value of our Earth and how we should keep it clean and the consequences of if we continue on the path we are currently on by using a hour glass. Our message is “Its Time to Take Action!”.

We have noticed our school and local community has a problem with litter and the impact on our land which we have shown by a polluted, dull, gloomy future on the right side. We would love to see our native animals enjoying the habitat, fresh air, and beautiful trees more with less pollution which we have shown with bright colours and trees on the left side.

If we TAKE ACTION we will see our world thrive like the animals in the bottom of the hour glass enjoying their environment. The top of the hourglass shows a lifeless environment which we want to avoid. We are aiming to create more habitat at our school for animals such as blue banded bees, Koalas, southern brown bandicoots and glossy black cockatoos if we are lucky!!

Craigslea State School (GRADES Kinder-6):

Our P&C run an all-ages Eco Club on Friday mornings in our school veggie garden where the children look after the plants and fruit trees, help with composting and recycling, pick up litter and taste-test herbs and veggies. We love looking at all the interesting bugs and checking to see which tree our tawny frogmouth family are sitting in. This is the first year our school has had a senior leadership roll of Sustainability Ambassador and each week on assembly the ambassadors award points to the year level with the cleanest eating area.

The children at Eco Club were tasked with creating our mural and it was agreed that it needed a rainbow and a blue sky (as referenced in our school song). They all drew their favourite parts of the school grounds with many drawing birds and trees, but also lots of happy children enjoying the outdoors. The sustainability notice board was a way for the older children to show their poster-making skills and demonstrate some eco tips to the younger children (it was hard to transfer these detailed posters onto a small picture, but they will be life-size if we are lucky enough to win!)

Bullyard State School (GRADES 1-6): 

This is a representation of Bullyard State School. Our school was founded in 1901 and next year celebrates 125 years of schooling.

We capture sustainability initiatives through our worm farms, vegetable gardens and fruit trees. Students recycle food scraps that are put in our worm farms and used in our gardens. The school’s food program ensures healthy meals are supported by fresh produce from the gardens. An arboretum allows the students to explore and play amongst nature. The school has a focus on behaviour with our Bullyard Beetle Way. It is a reminder of the school values and behaviour that is expected at our school. Sport is a big part of our school’s program; our two sporting teams are Fraser after Dawn Fraser and Clarke after Ron Clarke. We have included a picture of a bull which appears on our logo referring to the history in our area.

Clarendon Vale Primary School (GRADE 5): 

We want to include on our mural all the things that make our school and community special!

• We have a beautiful school garden where we have garden classes, grow fruit and veggies for our school and community, and enjoy nature. We will paint flowers and vegetables along the bottom of the mural to show this.

• We can see Kunanyi/ Mt Wellington from our school garden, it feels like the mountain watches over us, and sometimes has snow! It tells us what weather is coming. We will paint the mountain with a friendly face watching over the garden.

• We want to paint a big tree next to the mountain, and have all of the students in our school put a handprint on the tree to make the leaves. To represent community and how it takes all of us to keep it healthy and beautiful. This will also allow everyone to take part in the mural.

• We want to celebrate the abundant biodiversity in our garden and paint some of the native birds we see. We also love finding bugs! We have a retired entomologists named “Bob the bug man” who volunteers in our garden, he teaches us about the unique bugs in our area, including the rare red eyed green aphid, which we want to paint under a magnifying glass.

Parap Primary School (GRADES 2-6): 

A Year 6 student created the centre piece of Australia and the beautiful sunset of East Point near our school. We wanted to use this in the middle. He pieces around the centre piece show birds at our school- where we welcome everyone including wildlife. We have indigenous storytelling again the beach as it is such a big part of our local tropical area here in Darwin. We are wanting to paint a mural as part of our new sensory garden and spent time learning about colours and how they make people feel. Some of the pictures submitted in outline will have colour throughout to help children learn how to use colours and art to express our emotions while using nature and our school environment. The students have designed the sensory garden and are in the process of building it using recycled materials and resources fro our local community.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Collage (GRADE 2):

Mrs Kitsos, took her year 2 classroom outside on a nature walk to see what birds they could find to draw. Our school yard is full of wildlife, we encourage the students to look after our school environment and to watch the different animals that pass through our school grounds.

On the nature walk the year 2 students had spotted Galahs, White Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Rainbow Lorikeets, Red-Tailed black Cockatoos, Pied imperial pigeons and a regular flock of White Ibis. Our School is an eco friendly school and we are trying to encourage our frilled neck lizards to come back by planting more trees around our school yard which will also encourage our birds to stay.

The mural is inspired by the birds that the students in year 2 drew and that we often see at our school. It will be a colourful nature piece to our plain metal shed without being an eyesore to our natural playground.

Williams Primary School (GRADE 5+6): 

Williams Primary School is located in close proximity to the Dryandra Woodland National Park which is the largest remnant of native vegetation in the western Wheatbelt. It is home to a number of threatened species, including the numbat, which is featured on our school emblem. The Dryandra woodland is a diversity hotspot, as well as being an area of significant cultural importance to the traditional owners the Wilman people.

On a recent overnight camp to Dryandra the year 5/6 students were lucky enough to see and learn all about quenda, bilbie’s, woylies and bandicoots to name a few of the species native to the area.

The students were incredibly motivated through the experience and wanted to use some of their drawings to create a collaborative mural depicting some of the important mammals, birds and wildflowers of the area. They aimed to highlight how special the area is and how important it is to preserve and protect it for future generations to come.