Murals on an empty farm house helped a family's grief

The shells of historic farm houses and wool sheds dot the rural landscape, their stories often lost to time. This notion inspired Toby Weston to use the walls of his grandfather's crumbling childhood home as a canvas to capture memories. Murals depicting some of his grandfather's fondest moments - time with his dogs, the embrace of his mother and a day at the races - cover the old wooden farm house at Larras Lee in central west NSW. "The house is sitting on the farm, it hasn't been lived in for 60 or 70 years and lots of sheep are always wandering through it," Mr Weston told AAP. "But memories aren't always forgotten, they remain in a place even if it's decayed or doesn't look like it has any memories." His grandfather Peter Weston, affectionately known as Pepa, was able to see the murals before he died in 2021 and a video of the work was played at his funeral. The high school art project, which still stands on the family farm, came to inform Mr Weston's studies in creative intelligence and innovation at Sydney's University of Technology. The 21-year-old is completing an internship with community care provider Proveda to help young people have conversations about grief, death and dying. The organisation's annual Dying To Know Day on Thursday aims to break down the stigma of death and encourages people to have conversations about their end-of-life wishes. Mr Weston and his classmates have organised a death cafe in central Sydney giving young people a chance to talk about bereavement, dying and death in a relaxed setting. "It's so important for people not to be scared to die and, while they're living, to celebrate life," he said. The organisation's programs manager Jessie Williams said building communities to talk about end-of-life planning is crucial in making sure people see out their final days as they desire. "This can help break down the misconception that end-of-life planning is something to be done alone," Ms Williams said. At the Westons' farm, the murals remain a source of comfort. "While I was painting I was hoping this would be there forever because the memories are all still there," Mr Weston said. "My grandma, who's living on the farm, it's quite hard for her and whenever she has people over she'll always take them down to the house."