Author: Morrison Polkinghorne

But it is his Mallee contributions since arriving back in Australia in 2021 that most lately defines his legacy.

Settling in Murrayville, along the Vic-SA border and neighbouring Pinnaroo, Polkinghorne transformed the town’s century-old  Anglican Church into both home and studio, a symbolic merging of place, creativity, and purpose. From that base he has become a central figure in arts-led community wellbeing across the border community and further afield.

For the past four years, Morrison played a pivotal role in the Pinnaroo Project, delivering arts and crafts programs supporting mental health in rural communities. These studies collaborated with Flinders University to demonstrate the tangible benefits of creative practice on community wellbeing.

“Working with the community gives me great joy. From teaching pigment making at Phare school with its thousand students in Cambodia, to a local lady here who told me these projects have added years to her life.  That is more precious than selling a painting.”

Now serving as Murrayville Neighbourhood House Coordinator with Mallee Track Health & Community Services, Polkinghorne continues to expand access to creativity across the Mallee. Through workshops and community engagement he helps bring artistic opportunity to towns where such access is often limited.

His vision also extends into innovative storytelling. In November 2025, he launched A.R.M. Murrayville, an augmented reality project that reanimates the town’s historic streetscapes, allowing visitors and locals alike to uncover hidden narratives layered within contemporary spaces. It is a project bridging past and present, technology and heritage.

Morrison is currently working with around 30 members of the Murrayville community on a collaborative project titled Woven History Murrayville. The project brings together historic photographs that are reprinted, cut, and finally rewoven by hand. Through this process, fragments of the past are physically interlaced with the present, creating new interpretations of shared history while strengthening community connection through the act of making. He is also leading an ambitious initiative with the Murrayville Liaison Group to transform the town’s historic courthouse into a dedicated art gallery. That project reflects his ongoing commitment to embedding the arts within the fabric of the community.

Polkinghorne’s creative life has long been multifaceted. He is designer and co-author of the award-winning The Burma Cookbook, and during his earlier years in Sydney, his textile company Passementeries received national recognition, winning “Most Innovative Product” at the National Interior Design Show.

Yet accolades alone do not capture the full scope of his impact, and Polkinghorne’s work embodies that very spirit. In a region defined by its remoteness, he has demonstrated how art can become a point of connection between people and legacies. His practice, grounded in a single shade of black ink, continues to reveal unexpected depth, not just on paper, but across an entire community.

The museum had a lot of photos to choose from, and that was a great place to start to tell the town’s history. At first, the community had no idea what I meant by augmented reality, so I set about making a mock-up. Once they saw what it was about, people started bringing me old photos, letters, even family handwritten stories. Currently, I’m recording some stories about the good old days by the vibrant elderly. It became a shared act of remembering — a collaboration between the past and present. The AR may be digital, but the heart of it is entirely local.

I’ve spent many hours down on this street with my laptop, tweaking and making small changes. One day, a couple pulled up, travelling through from Tasmania to WA. They told me they loved the old architecture and found it sad how many places are going by the wayside. They got stuck peering through the window at the various items in the chemist, joking about possibly needing the 50+ year old snake venom if they wandered into the bush. I asked them if they could try the AR. Mind blown, they wandered up and down the footpath of the shops for another 30 minutes. This was a great encouragement for me to seek even more local input and to continue the project.

History and restoration are an important part of my life. I previously worked with Historic Houses in Sydney, creating historical soft furnishings, so I know how important it is to document one’s surroundings, stories, and techniques. Now Murrayville is documented with one of the latest technologies, AR. It was a way to preserve what was once here, to let people see and feel the stories behind these façades.

Murrayville now has three AR start points — the Reed Street Shops, the Old Post Office, and opposite the Murrayville Pub on the Mallee Highway. Make your way and search for the QR codes to start your AR historical Murrayville journey. All you need is a charged smartphone.