The newly formed Castlemaine Graffiti Busters took to the streets on Monday, beginning their epic battle to eliminate graffiti from the town.
With the help of the Beaumaris Graffiti Busters, led by Geoff Bransbury OAM who brought his fully equipped graffiti busting trailer along, the small group began removing tags and unsightly graffiti from prominent locations in the Castlemaine CBD.
Geoff gave an inspiring presentation the previous evening during a fundraising concert at the Northern Arts Hotel, which raised $1600 and will assist the volunteers to buy supplies.
Geoff told the Express that the Beaumaris group’s work in eradicating graffiti was so efficient they’d almost put themselves out of a job after only one year.
“When we started out there was stacks of graffiti and now it’s minimal,” he said.
“We started out doing our ‘busts’ once a fortnight and ended up with about 25 members.”
The Beaumaris Graffiti Busters have been operational since 2018. The group of volunteers started out with minimal funds and supplies but was successful in obtaining a council grant to purchase a fully ‘kitted out’ trailer.
“It’s a real community project. All the members really enjoy it and so do the people walking past,” Geoff said.
“We’ve also worked on five graffiti mitigation murals with local youth as a way to prevent ongoing graffiti.”
Long-time local graffiti lobbyist Bill Wiglesworth said the group was delighted with the response from the community at the fundraising event and the support from the Beaumaris Graffiti Busters.
“We exceeded our $1000 immediate goal and had a great night of fun and entertainment from our musical Duos,” he said.
“It shows that so many residents are fed up with seeing our shire increasingly defaced by graffiti vandals.
“We had quite a few people signing up to help too, which is incredibly encouraging.”
Those interested in helping will also be invited to the Busters’ next meeting to discuss forming a local Neighbourhood Watch group to auspice their activities.
“We’ll be in touch next week,” Bill said.
Castlemaine Graffiti Busters’ ultimate goal is a fully equipped trailer of its own, so any further donations will be gratefully received.
The group thanks Castlemaine Maxi IGA, Central Carpets Castlemaine, Mt Alexander Timber and Hardware, Castlemaine Travel and Cruise, Das Kaffeehaus, Grist Wesley Hill Bakery, Stoneman’s Bookroom, Jodie McLean’s Hair design, Clifford’s Quality Cuts, The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine Fresh and Castlemaine Central Wine Store for their generous support, and the many people who donated cash via EFT or personally.
Enquiries to jane.cafarella@gmail.com or 0408 880 185.
To donate: Account Name: Jane L. Cafarella In Trust For Castlemaine Graffiti Busters, Bendigo (Community) Bank in Maldon: BSB: 633000, Account No: 217061555.
