Tongala and Echuca artists Murray Ross and Jill Conway touched hearts with their mural, 'Farming: Past, present and future'.

The piece portrayed a grandfather and his grandson - Rochester identities - on a rural property.

Rochester Mural Festival committee member Judy Anderson said people could see representations of the technology the generations had used to prepare the land - a tractor on the grandson's side, and a horse-drawn apparatus on the grandfather's.

In the foreground were the grandson and grandpa, who were Rochester identities.

"The grandson is using his remote-control tractor and his iPad," Mrs Anderson said.

"Grandpa is reading the local newspaper."

She said the mural was going to be erected near Temptation Living and Landscapes, because the two people in it were the business owner's son and father.

Ross and Conway were late additions to the festival, having been offered the platform after artist Wei Luan withdrew because of concerns about Coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

Luan is a Chinese national living in Canada.

Mrs Anderson said she called Ross on the Sunday before the mural festival started to ask if he and Conway might consider taking Luan's place.

"He said [he'd] actually prepared an entry, [he] just missed the deadline so [he] didn't put it in," she said.

"He'd already done the preparation for it."

Bendigo artist Steve Monk was named the winner of this year's mural festival.

Monk's mural, 'The past and present: Contemplating the future of spilt milk', featured a Rochester landmark - the Murray Goulburn factory, which closed in 2018.

"It had various community members and unemployed cows pondering their future," Rochester Mural Festival committee member Judy Anderson said.

It also featured a red-haired clown, and a cat sitting at the edge of a puddle of spilt milk.

Mrs Anderson said Monk had featured in the festival for about three years.

A newcomer to the event, Alicia Huddy, won the prize for highly commended work.

'Sunset on the Campaspe' depicted a cow pedalling Sir Hubert Opperman's bike along the Campaspe River at sunset.

Mrs Anderson said Huddy's mural was a colourful, semi-abstract representation.

"Alicia works with people with disabilities, so she wanted to be very bold for visually impaired people, so they could appreciate it," she said.

Huddy went to school in Rochester.

Mrs Anderson said those involved were happy with how the festival went.

Artists were asked to consider the theme 'Rochester: Past, present or future'.

One of the murals was unable to be completed after artist Kristin Scherlies injured her leg and was hospitalised.

"We hope she'll be able to complete it in due course," Mrs Anderson said.

The Rochester Mural Festival is in its sixth year.

It is one of a number of art-related initiatives putting the community on the map, including the recently unveiled Iddles Lane mural.

Though Luan was unable to compete in this year's mural festival, the Campaspe community will not be deprived of the opportunity to see his work, with an exhibition scheduled for Echuca's Customs House Gallery from Friday.

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