Roaring lion mural takes pride of place Shepparton school

The teacher, also known by his artist name ‘Hicko’, quickly began working on his holiday homework, the Lion of Judah, just as the last child left the school grounds on September 18.

And he hasn’t put the brush down since.

Just starting out with mural painting this year, Hicko didn’t want to ease into it, instead setting himself a challenge to complete his largest-scale piece yet, a 160 square metre mural covering the blank stadium wall.

With pleasant weather prevailing for the most part, he put in the hours, showing up every day of school holidays, including weekends, from just after sunrise to sunset, finishing at about 7pm each day.

“It’s a lot of paint, a lot of time,” he said.

“But it feels really good painting on a large scale.”

The design was not chosen at random.

The Lion of Judah is the school’s sport teams’ logo, and coincidently quite meaningful to Hicko too, as he designed it five years ago.

So putting the lion on the stadium wall was a no-brainier.

For Hicko, the mural has been six years in the making, after badgering school leaders from the moment he arrived at the college to let him paint the wall.

“It’s just a blank wall otherwise,” he said.

But now, he says the pressure is real.

“Whatever is up there, stays up there,” he said, explaining why he was putting in the hours to get it right.

Beyond the painting process, he has a bigger goal in mind: promoting the arts and excellence within the school.

“I’m hoping it inspires my students,” he said.

When staff and students return for Term 4, they will find that six years of badgering has finally turned a blank wall into a roaring lion.

And perhaps a new go-to lunchtime spot.