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A little history ...

The KING PARROT CURIOSITY SHOP occupies what was for many years, the Manilla Girl Guides Hall.  The building was constructed for Mr. Nolan as a motor garage during the 1930s. After WW2 it was operated as the International Harvester dealership and Coupland's Garage until the the late1950s. The Girl Guides Association bought the building during the 1960s, upgraded the space and the hall served the Manilla Community very well for several decades to follow, providing community groups with space and acting as an  annex to the primary school opposite.
It has undergone complete renovation since its acquisition by the current owners in 2008 accommodating the NicholArts Workshop and later, the King Parrot Studio, producing commercial and fine art commissions as well as community photography for the years leading up to the early 2020s.

Window Works

... and the king parrot story

With the hall frontage newly complete, 2 large picture windows were demanding attention. Several  reverse glass paintings were done during the early years, in line with seasonal events and celebrations. As the festive season came to a close in 2018 three playful King Parrots were painted on one window and on the other in 2019, as the World celebrated International Year of Indigenous Language, a couple of kookaburras took over, with an almost audible chorus of the local name for the bird above.
In time the kookaburras were scraped off to make way for a new window splash. Such was the uproar from members of the community, that we made a commitment to never remove the king parrots and so they are now and forever, a key part of the 'brand'  we call The King Parrot Curiosity Shop.
Check the images here for a few past views of the workshop windows.

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