The students excited for people to see their flags in Wagga’s main street are (back, from left) Golnoush Saidi, Yunxi Jia, Leo Wang and Sakvan Sleman; and (front) Majida Haji, Richa Rose Biju and mentor Sara Wilson. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Baylis Street will soon look colourfully different with the introduction of four new flags towards the Civic Centre side of town.
The flags celebrate the cultures of the six school students who created them, and display the word for ”welcome” in Wagga’s top-10 most spoken languages.
The project, named WELCOME, introduced the participants to designing on tablets using digital drawing techniques, and, as a group, they explored how they could visually represent their cultures.
Wagga Wagga City Council cultural officer Lauren Reynolds said the flags brought vibrancy to the CBD and spoke to the Refugee Week 2025 theme – Finding Freedom: Diversity in Community. Refugee Week runs from 15 to 21 June.
“There are four flag designs in this series that are displayed along Baylis Street, celebrating the cultures of the participants, with each design featuring three key elements: architecture, food, and a cultural practice or clothing, along with the translation of the word ‘welcome’,” Ms Reynolds said.
“A fifth flag design will hang alongside the others, featuring the word ‘welcome’ translated into the top-10 languages, other than English, spoken by residents in Wagga Wagga: Yazidi, Malayalam, Mandarin, Filipino/Tagalog, Arabic, Punjabi, Nepali, Wiradjuri/Australian Indigenous languages, Burmese and Hindi (Census 2021).”
The flags have been designed by six young people from multicultural backgrounds who participated in workshops mentored by artist Sara Wilson.
Library services manager Christine Bolton said the WELCOME project allowed the participants to express their culture while working together as a group.
“The participants worked with local artist Sara Wilson and explored how they could visually represent their cultures while creating a cohesive design narrative,” Ms Bolton said.
“The designs express the artists’ deep connection to their heritage and culture while embracing their new lives in Wagga Wagga.
“The word WELCOME is intended as an invitation to all our community to both welcome and be welcomed.”
One of the program participants, Leo Wang from Wagga Wagga Christian College, said he had little experience with digital art before the workshops but learned a lot from Ms Wilson.
“I am an artist outside of that, but I didn’t really do digital art, so it was kind of challenging to start with,” he said.
“I learned a lot of new skills, learning how to draw on a tablet, animate and use technology properly. I’ll definitely be using what I’ve learnt in the future.
“We came from China before we moved to Wagga. It’s pretty strange having art that I’ve made up on the street, but Wagga is a multicultural place and it’s pretty cool to have all the different cultures together.”
The flags will be in Baylis Street for the next three months.
