Woombye kids unveil ‘Moona Lisa’ Masterpiece

Udderly impressive: Sponsor Beth O’Leary, middle, with teacher Carolyn Tonkin, right, and her Year 5-6 students with their brilliantly-decorated Picasso Cow.

- By Erle Levey

It was a moo-ving experience at Woombye State Primary School with Year 5-6 students wishing Moona Lisa the Picasso Cow good luck in a national dairy award.

Woombye State Primary School teacher Carolyn Tonkin and Year 5-6 students decorated a Picasso Cow as part of the curriculum about food, farming, the Blackall Range and surrounding area.

It involved lots of planning by the students and then the transferring of their ideas by painting on the fibreglass cow.

Near full size, Moona Lisa was sponsored by Beth and Simon O’Leary of Woombye Cheese. 

Moona Lisa will be in the running for a prize for the school and then displays by Dairy Australia before finding a permanent home at Woombye Cheese in West Woombye. Beth O’Leary was one of four delegates Slow Food Noosa sponsored to attend Slow Food International’s biennial festival in Turin, Italy. 

The Picasso Cows have been brought into the curriculum for students to learn about the area in which they live, and of the local produce such as pineapples, strawberries, avocados, ginger and dairy.

Black myrtle tree is local to the region and takes pride of place on the cow’s back. Teacher Carolyn Tonkin said the project was a very rewarding process.

“We are really happy with it, and very proud. It helps to understand more about their food.’’

The designs include the meadows and watering holes, as well as indigenous influences from the past couple of years in the curriculum.

“When you have 15 people working on it we needed a theme,’’ Ms Tonkin said.

“It was decided she had to be on our own paddock.

“Everyone got to draw their design, what it means, and then transfer those ideas onto Moona Lisa.’’

These included strawberries, yogurt, honeycomb, chocolate, a milkshake jar, surfing, views of the Glasshouse Mountains, and a cheeseboard for picnics.

Underneath the cow is sunshine with the names of everyone who worked on it.

When they are older they can go into Woombye Cheese and see that they helped create it.

“We wanted her to look like a proper cow,’’ Ms Tonkin said. “She even has her own identification tag.

“She has character, she shines, she is adorable.’’