Percy Hobson Mural

The Percy Hobson Mural was completed in April 2021, on the Bourke water tank, by the renowned Lightning Ridge artist John Murray, local artists Brian Smith and Bobby Barrett, Melbourne street artist Lucas Kasper, and a crew of local young Aboriginal artists.

As a finishing touch, the Bourke community added their hand prints to the bottom of the mural. The mural honours Bourke’s Commonwealth gold medallist, showing Percy Hobson clearing the high jump bar with Red-tailed Black cockatoos on the other side of the tank.

At the 1962 Perth Commonwealth Games, Percy Hobson became the first Aboriginal athlete to win a gold medal for Australia. Aged 20 years at the time, Hobson took victory in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6ft11in. (2.11 metres), setting a new Commonwealth Games record.