Welcome to Lilllydale

Troy Innocent, Matthew Riley, Kate Baker, Ryan Reynolds (Gap Filler)

What’s in a name? In the outer suburban former Shire of Lillydale, now known as Lilydale, citizens experience a lack of connection despite it being a local hub for services and public transport. On the edge of a city built for cars, it is a place people often drive through to get to wineries and national parks rather than being a destination. To respond to this lack of civic identity, four artists came together to form the Lilllydale Alternate Welcoming Society to bring back welcomes to public space.

Working with Gap Filler, we developed a great process that included site and area mapping, stakeholder mapping and engagement, historical research, interviews with local business owners, and much more. We ended up producing a three-part framework as a way that loads of people, groups and businesses in Lilydale could get involved in ‘our’ arts project.

We created the (fictional) Lilllydale Alternative Welcoming Society, including a website and app. First we created an Alternative Welcome Space outside the train station (marked by a giant ‘Welcome To Lilllydale’ hot air balloon), and paid a small amount for local groups to do morning welcomings near the train station in the town centre at peak commuter times (think: local florists giving away flowers, local school choirs performing, a judo demonstration, giant chicken and more!)

Second, we produced large vinyl artworks that were installed on the footpath up and down Main St and a few side streets in Lilydale. The artworks included a complete typology and iconography that referenced important aspects and people of Lilydale past and present. Some of the vinyl works also included drawings, photos and text contributions from Lilydale residents, schools, etc.

Third, we worked with VicRoads to put a series of three ‘Welcome to Lilllydale’ signs along the Maroondah Highway (major state highway) at the entrance to Lilydale, as a way of reaching some of the four million cars that drive through Lilydale each year without stopping.