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Free West Papua mural on Cavenagh St in Darwin painted over
NT News - March 12, 2017
The mural, a sign of friendship between indigenous Australians and West Papuans, was half painted over last week. The remainder of the mural was covered yesterday morning and protester Cindy Watson said 10 people tried to save the artwork, to no avail.
The mural was painted on a brick wall at the intersection of Cavenagh and Bennett streets in June 2015 but Ms Watson said "pressure" from Indonesia to remove it had been strong ever since. She said it was particularly disheartening to lose the mural on the day Darwin marched for International Women's Day.
"Whilst there's a lot to celebrate with the things that women have achieved, there's a lot to still struggle for and right on this day the remainder of an Aboriginal and West Papua friendship mural was wiped out," she said.
"We wanted the mural to stay. It was not only a symbol of friendship, it was a piece of art, cultural art, and under pressure publicly from Indonesia it was completely wiped out."
Ms Watson said more needed to be done to help the women of West Papua. "We are working on more murals and on International Women's Day we need not only to celebrate but we need to stand up for the voiceless people and that is the women of West Papua."
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