Marrickville Road’s Fading Mosaics

Thirty years after installation, Marrickville Road’s historic Footpath Stories mosaics face neglect

By Matt Abotomey

It was summer, 1993. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had just turned the city on its head, announcing Sydney would host the first Olympic Games of the new millennium. 

In Marrickville, Olympic fervour was being funnelled into an ambitious public mosaic artwork - the Marrickville Road Footpath Stories project. The plan was to install 30-odd mosaics into the pavement of the suburb’s main street. Each work, designed by a different artist or community group, would provide a snapshot of life and culture in Marrickville. Looking to involve as many people as possible, Marrickville Council sent out flyers in six different languages requesting submissions from the community. 

Maria Tsakalos didn’t receive a flyer. She had no idea about the Council’s plans. In those days, she was working as a shop assistant at a deli in Marrickville Shopping Centre. Walking home one afternoon, she saw people working in the church rooms next to St. Clements Anglican and went inside to look. When she was told about the project, she immediately joined as a volunteer. 

Maria had no experience in design or masonry. But for six months she returned to the rooms every day after work, watching how other volunteers approached the task and piecing together her own contribution to the project. She was excited about the Olympics and wanted to show what it meant to her that an ancient Greek tradition was arriving on Australian shores. Her mosaic is entitled ‘Olympia’ and depicts a young woman crowned with a laurel and surrounded by olive branches and the Olympic rings. Her inspiration, she tells me, came from a picture on a tin of olive oil she had at home. 

Mosaic History

On 24^th September, 1994, 39 mosaics were officially opened to the public. They were detailed, vibrant and unique. One shows a crowded tram running on an old line past Seymour’s Corner at the intersection of Victoria and Marrickville Road. Another depicts ‘Blondini’ an Australian copycat of Charles Blondin, the 19^th century French daredevil, walking on a tightrope and breathing fire. Some are works of protest - “Tenants have rights!” screams one. A few, like a smiling elliptical sun, seemingly have no connection to Marrickville and simply please the eye.   

Thirty years later, the mosaics and their messages are no less arresting. But there is an unmistakable sense that time is catching up with them. Large cracks have erupted in some. Others have tiles missing. A few have been hacked at by souvenir-hunters or vandals. The worst punishment has been meted out by utilities companies whose workers rip out segments or whole mosaics to get at pipes and wires underneath. Some have been put back, but many have simply been destroyed.

Local historian Rod Aanensen walks Marrickville Road most days. Over the years, he’s witnessed this destruction and, on a number of occasions, intervened to try and stop it. In 2022, he began photographing the mosaics and sharing them on the Marrickville Heritage Society Facebook page. He approached the Inner West Council about preserving the mosaics and in April 2023, they voted unanimously to investigate the cost of a full restoration.

Seeking Restoration & Protection

That was almost three years ago. In July of 2024, the mosaics were mentioned in a Council report of resolutions that had yet to be fulfilled.  Of the five stated aims for the mosaics, two stand out: to “work closely” with the Marrickville Heritage Society in preparing the restoration, and to “consult and where possible, prioritise working with the original artists of the mosaics…” Rod has been part of the Marrickville Heritage Society for years and is keen to be involved with the restoration, but he’s barely heard from the Council. Maria hasn’t even been approached. Meanwhile, the cracks in the Marrickville Road pavement are only getting wider.

In 1993, Community Arts co-ordinator Susan McHattie said the idea of the Marrickville Footpath Stories Project was to “involve people in the creation of their environment.” Sitting in Maria’s compact, well-tended garden barely 100 metres from where Olympia sits, it’s clear Maria lives by these words. She is still immensely proud of her work and says she looks at it every time she walks past. She wants the mosaics preserved for “years and years and years.” “When I am dying,” she says, “I know I left something behind. I left my kids behind, but I left something for Marrickville.”

Marrickville Mosaics can be spotted along Marrickville Rd.