Sport is a great way for the community to connect and come together and for young kids to feel part of their local community, learn new skills and make new friends.

Thanks to a Stockland community grant, local club Baringa Football Club has been able to commission local, talented Caloundra artist Hannah Poida to paint a spectacular 11 metre mural along the front of their clubroom facing the main ground, for all of the community to enjoy.

Hannah Poida shows Jason Hunt, State Member for Caloundra her artwork.

The mural has become a huge source of pride for the club as it features inspirational Australian soccer player Isobel Dalton — a former Brisbane Roar player who currently plays football for Lewes in the English FA Women’s Championship — paying tribute to the importance of female participation in the game.

State Member for Caloundra, Jason Hunt MP, artist Hannah Poida and Stockland’s Mark Stephens visited the club recently to view the mural.

The artwork is a celebration of the football club as a welcoming place where locals can gather, highlighting the importance of sport to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community. The mural also showcases the beauty of the Glasshouse Mountains and the diversity of the region we are proud to call home.

President of Baringa Football Club, Leigh Phillips said, “Thanks to the talented artist Hannah, we have an impressive mural for all of our football community to enjoy and we are delighted with the end result.”

“We are very grateful for the ongoing support from Stockland Aura, with the recent funding provided to complete the mural and previous funding for extensions of the club, allowing us to provide a great facility for our local community,” he said.

Mural artist Hannah Poida was excited to be engaged by the club to complete the large scale mural. “As a local Sunshine Coast artist, I love bringing artwork to real life in my home community, through hyperrealism,” she said.

Stockland’s 2022 Aura Community Grants Program has provided community groups, like Baringa FC, with almost $270,000 worth of funding as part of Stockland’s commitment to invest more than $1.3 billion in local infrastructure over the life of Aura.

The mural can be viewed at Baringa Football Club located at 30 Baringa Drive, Bells Creek. For more information about Baringa Football Club visit here.