A privately commissioned mural depicting the Kings Park bottlebrush has been vandalised on the exterior wall of a residential property in Daglish, leaving its owner considering whether to recreate the artwork herself.

The mural was located on the side wall of a home facing a small public park on Stubbs Terrace, near Daglish railway station.

Property owner Helen Yu discovered the damage on Thursday, 24 September 2026, after her children returned home from school.

The artwork, commissioned approximately five years earlier at a cost of around $5,000, was painted by two local artists.

It featured a stylised depiction of the Kings Park bottlebrush, or Callistemon, and was intended to reflect the native vegetation and character of the surrounding area.

Yu said the mural had become a familiar feature of the small park, which is regularly used by residents and commuters passing through the nearby railway station.

She believed the graffiti had been applied overnight because of the number of people normally using the area during daylight hours.

The vandalism was reported to both the local council and police on Friday, 25 September.

Yu initially expressed concern that the council might simply paint over the damaged artwork rather than attempt to preserve or restore it.

The council subsequently painted over the graffiti.

However, with one of the original artists having moved away and the other no longer working professionally in the field, Yu said she intended to attempt recreating the mural herself.

She acknowledged that the result might not match the original but wanted to restore the artwork rather than leave the wall without its former decoration.

Yu said she recognised that graffiti could be considered an artform but questioned why someone would deliberately damage another artist's work.

The incident highlighted the vulnerability of privately funded artworks displayed in public-facing locations, particularly those maintained by individual property owners rather than public authorities.