Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council has resolved to retain a mural of Zomi Frankcom that was painted by night on the Braidwood Council building by artist Luke Cornish, better-known as ELK.

Frankcom, who spent three months in Braidwood after the 2019-20 bushfires helping with meals for RFS volunteers and evacuees, was among several people in a vehicle convoy killed in Gaza while working for the World Food Kitchen in 2024.

On the weekend of  September 20-21 2025, council was told, the mural, unauthorised, was painted on the wall facing Park Lane on the Braidwood Literary Institute, commonly known as the Braidwood Council building, leading to some complaints but even more emails of support.

Council’s Arts and Cultural Development Advisory Committee advised council that the mural was in line with the principles and objectives of its Public Art Policy, noting that the mural had significant artistic merit, was painted by a well regarded artist and suggested that the mural would have been recommended if it had been submitted as a public art project prior to its exhibition.

Mayor Kenrick Winchester described the mural as “a beautiful tribute to an amazing woman… Zomi was an amazing, selfless individual who died helping others in the most desperate of situations.”

At a council Meeting in Braidwood on Wednesday, council resolved that the mural be registered as a Council-maintained asset, that a plaque and plan of management be prepared in conjunction with the artist or an art conservator, and that it consider allocation of funds in the future to maintain and preserve the mural.