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Artist: Beverly Ray, Papamoa. Retouched 2006 by Peter Nicholson

Year: 1994/2006

Medium: Acrylic on Panels

Size: 20 sq m.

Sponsored By: Community Donations

As a teenager in the 1930s Jimmy Culpan had a job taking supplies and mail to bushman working in the hills behind Katikati. The Katikati Timber Company was cutting kauri at the headwaters of the Tuapiro River and used kauri dams to float logs down to the mill at the end of Woodlands Road. Twice a week Jimmy collected supplies from the mill and led his horses, Bess and Carr, up a winding and often muddy pack track to the bush camp. Only on the way home could he ride one of the horses. The mural is based on a photograph taken by Tudor Collins, well known for his photographs of kauri logging. His brother, Bert, was the mill manager for the timber company. On the left of the mural is the camp boss with another bushman, Jack Ducevich, behind the horses. Mural artist Beverley Ray has loved drawing and painting horses ever since she was at primary school.