Despite her small stature, 88-year-old Mount Kembla playwright Wendy Richardson is a towering local legend, and she's officially taken up permanent residence on the walls of Mount Kembla Public School.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms Richardson, known for her ability to weave local history into extraordinary stories, wrote the tale of the Mount Kembla mine disaster in her play Windy Gully and was a teacher at Mount Kembla Public School between 1968 and 1974.
Mount Kembla Public School students dived deep into Ms Richardson's history this year, decorating the school with pictures of her life story, and eventually translating one student's artwork of Ms Richardson into a bright mural splashed across the school's wall.
Librarian and art teacher Jo Dyson said the playwright had quickly become a "celebrity".
"When she came in to talk to the children, she was like a superstar - they came running from everywhere calling 'Wendy! Wendy!'," Mrs Dyson said.
On Thursday, the 88-year-old came to see her likeness cast on the walls of the school she spent years teaching at, and said she was simply "staggered".
"I never imagined myself on a wall, anywhere - it was just beautiful," Ms Richardson said.
"It brought back some very happy, positive memories and today, of course, gave me a whole lot of new confidence and hope in the future, to see all those young people reaching out."
The 11-year-old artist behind the mural Lily Thomson said it was "amazing" to meet Wendy after learning so much about her.
She said her favourite part of the artwork, showing the playwright holding a copy of Windy Gully outside the school, was "the Wendy" in the centre.
The artwork also incorporated indigenous symbols added by the school's indigenous students, to acknowledge the school is celebrating the area's white history, but the land was and always will be Indigenous land, Mrs Dyson said.
The chance to educate her students about Ms Richardson's life and impact on Mount Kembla was true to the playwright's own teaching ethos, Mrs Dyson said.
"When I was researching all about Wendy, I read an article where she had said that it was part of the school's responsibility to educate the children about the history of the area," Mrs Dyson said.
"In doing this, we're carrying on a tradition that she believed in."
To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Rosie Bensley
Illawarra Mercury trainee journalist and newest recruit.
Illawarra Mercury trainee journalist and newest recruit.
