When the Airlie Beach main street roundabout was stripped of its starfish one year ago, the question arose of what would replace it.
Thanks to Rebecca Ross and Sheila Car of Metro Tiles and Martin Ross of Creative Tiling, a brand new starfish mosaic, which promises to bring an extra spark to the main street, will be installed starting Monday.
“It was a design (Whitsunday Regional Council) already had and we just modified it and came up with the colours,” Ms Ross said.
It was a natural phenomenon at Gloucester Island however, which inspired the colours of the design.
“We saw so many starfish wash up on the shore and there were loads of colours,” Ms Ross said.
“There’s white and beige for the sand and different blues blending together from the water coming up to the sand as if the starfish was washed ashore.”
Whitsunday Mayor, Andrew Willcox said the new mosaic would assist in the rejuvenation of the roundabout and entry to Airlie Beach.
“The new design will be bright, colourful and easy to clean so it will always look attractive,” he said.
“The new starfish is also significantly cheaper than the alternatives and will require less ongoing maintenance which will reduce costs for the community in the long term.”
Weather permitting, tiling works are expected to be completed within a week of its start date.
During this time, traffic management will be in place near the roundabout.
Source: Whitsunday Times.