Australian comedian Celester Barber has been honoured for her bushfire fundraising efforts with a mural in one of the country’s most iconic graffiti laneways.
Hosier Lane in Melbourne’s CBD features an artistic mural of the 37-year-old who has raised over $45 million for firefighting services through her Facebook fundraiser.
A “Thank You” message accompanied the creation, which is just the first of several murals that have popped up across the country as Australia’s worst bushfire crisis began.
Recently a mural of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison surrounded by flames appeared on a wall in Sydney. It was later painted over.
Last month Celeste, who won fame for her parody photographs mimicking “real-life” reenactments of high-end fashion shoots and celebrity moments, launched a Facebook campaign for the NSW Rural Fire Service.
“Our family are being evacuated. I feel sick,” she wrote on social media.
Celeste said on her Instagram she spoke to “the king of the RFS” about the donation effort and said it “gave them a bit of positivity in the terror.”
“They’re going to disperse it in such an incredible way so it gets where it needs to go,” she added.
The crowdfunding account had raised over $49.2 million as of 1pm AEST on Friday, with over 1.2 million people having made donations.
Australia’s worst bushfire season began in October last year.
On Thursday the NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed 1,870 homes had been destroyed in New South Wales, with a further 753 damaged.
The death toll stands at 26, 10.3 million hectares of land has been burnt, a billion animals are feared to have perished, and thousands of people have been evacuated from holiday beaches.
