For many years, I have walked past the pedestrian underpass leading to Merewether Beach. As I had a walked past on the beach side, I had vaguely noticed that the outside was painted and was welcoming people to come inside. But I never did.
Last Sunday on my weekly local exploration walk however I found myself using the underpasss from the other side to get to the beach. It was then that I remembered it was called Merewether Aquarium. I couldn’t believe the difference.
The Merewether Aquarium was created by local artist, Mister Trevor Dickinson in 2014. An aquarium is a great description of the underpass as the artist has even painted a turtle and a shark on the roof of the underpass so it feels like you are in the viewing tunnel of a big aquarium.
The paintings on either side of the aquarium walls are fun and full of quirky details and hidden messages. Some of my favourites were:
- The local Merewether bus
- The artist himelf as a diver
- Newcastle’s local 4 times World Champion Surfer – Mark Richards
- Merewether Ocean Baths building
- Merwether Surfhouse
- The diving blocks from the ocean baths
- The local hotel
- Humpback whales that swim up and down the coast from May to November
- Lifeguard vehicles
I also love the black lines painted regularly giving the impression you are looking through glass.
