For years, ‘do it yourself’ kits were reserved for people painting their own houses, Doing home repairs or putting together pre-fabricated furniture to save on labor costs. Now, with The Mural Manual (ISBN 07240 6178 9), put out by the Arts Council N.S.W. of the Division of Cultural Activities of the premier’s Department, we have a do it yourself book for those who want murals.

Most of those shown in this in rich color illustrations were community projects: in other words, according to the text (by David Humphries and Rodney Monk, both active in the work) local people were consulted about what they would like in their neighborhood before work started. Some of the jobs have been commissioned by firms or institutions such as universities, but many were projects run buy community centers with some help from the Cultural Activities Division itself and city councils, as well as in some cases, paint companies or the firms whose constructions (such as giant oil thanks) were made less ugly by having attention diverted from them by happy paint strokes.

The Manual is most detailed in the hints it gives would be muralists about types of paint, stages in working out design, community consultation and even details of scaffolding.

But more important is the advice given to those people who want to enlist others in helping beautify the uglier parts of cities and thus getting people to realize that in Australia art need not be for the elite but is for the community, as it is in Asia and the pacific.