Local Tilly Moore wins design competition for M1 upgrade

LOCAL Year 11 student and artist Matilda “Tilly” Moore is the winner of the M12 Raymond Terrace NAIDOC Week 2025 Art Competition.

It means her artwork will adorn the new under-construction bypass, as well as high-vis gear.

“Tilly’s piece captured the spirit of this year’s NAIDOC theme, ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy’, showcasing not only artistic talent, but also a deep connection to culture and community,” said a representative from Transport for NSW Regional Integration, the department in charge of the bypass competition.

“The judges were moved by the originality and meaning behind her work, and we are proud to celebrate her achievement, a shining example of the strength, creativity, and brilliance of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Currently a student at Medowie’s Catherine McAuley Catholic College, Tilly also attended St Joseph’s in Bulahdelah and St Brigid’s in Raymond Terrace.

Her efforts and win were acknowledged at a special NAIDOC Week event and included a 12-month mentorship with the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

“This is such an honour, I did not realise how big it was when I did it, it has opened up so many opportunities and the positive feedback from everybody in the school community has been amazing,” Tilly told News Of The Area.

“I put in my submission the first Friday of Term 2, and had not even told my family that I had done it.”

Tilly’s mother Natalie is from Gumbaynggirr Country on the Mid North Coast,

Her father Michael said he was proud that Tilly’s written description “also moved a lot of people.”

The award comes with a grant to start her own business, courtesy of the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

Tilly has always been interested in art and said she said she became serious about it in Year 7.

It has already won her invitations to attend the NSW Art Gallery and the Maitland Regional Art Gallery to present her work.

Last school holidays, she accepted a scholarship to attend the National Art School in Darlinghurst Sydney, one of only 100 students selected from across the state.

On her second attempt, she made the Top 50 in “Operation Art”, which is a program that shows NSW students’ artworks at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney.

Her artwork has now toured NSW three years in a row.

“I would like to become a practicing artist, self-print and sell my art on items, and experiment with more 2D art media,” Tilly said of her future.

She is continuing on to do art in the HSC, which features a major work, and is planning a pop-up gallery in Tea Gardens during the holidays.

By Thomas O’KEEFE