Footscray Heavenly Queen Temple Koi

The Footscray Heavenly Queen Temple Koi travel poster by Kerrie Gottliebsen captures the beautiful statue of ‘Mazu’ located on the banks of the Maribyrnong river.

Heavenly Queen Temple

She presides over the Maribyrnong River, offering protection to those who set out to sea. The photograph, taken by Kerrie Gottliebsen by drone, is overlaid with playful Koi which were painted by Kerrie following a trip to Vietnam. The artwork speaks to Footscray’s magical landscapes of nature, culture and industry.

The Heavenly Footscray Koi poster is available in A4, A3, A2, A1 and the super massive A0.

Heavenly Queen Background

Heavenly Queen, also known as “Mazu”, Lin Mo Laing (A.D. 960-987) was born in MeiZhou Island in FuJian province during the Sung dynasty in China. At her birth, a brilliant light appeared in the northwestern sky, and the scent of perfume filled her home. She was given the name Mo (silence) because as a newborn, she never cried. At her early age, she demonstrated great intelligence with photographic memory, healing the sick and helping the poor people. She also acquired the ability to predict the weather, saving many fishermen lives at sea. Although her life was of short duration, her intelligence and life saving legend remained forever. After her death, people built a temple on the MeiZhou Island at the spot where she ascended to heaven and become immortal. This became the origin of all Heavenly Queen temples around the world.

Devotees around the world continue to believe that Heavenly Queen will protect all those who pray to her before setting out to sea, and that she will save the lives of anyone on the open sea who cries to her in their hour of distress. Her birth day is celebrated each year on the 23nd March of the Chinese lunar calendar in all places with a Chinese sea faring tradition. Not only is Heavenly Queen a traditional Chinese religious figure who saves people’s lives and promote mercy, her legends is also part of the traditional Chinese culture and has continued unabatedly for more than one thousand years.

The Heavenly Queen is located at 2 Joseph Road, Footscray approximately 4kms from Melbourne CBD. Its about 5 minute drive from Melbourne city centre and is accessible by train (Footscray Station) or by bus (Bus No.  216, 219, 402).

The Temple precinct is alongside the Maribyrnong River and is approximately 40,000 square meters in area. About two third of the land will used as Chinese Garden and Car Park.

The total buildings floor area is approximately 5000 square meters. The project will be built in 3 stages:

Stage 1: Building of the Heavenly Queen Temple, Entrance Gate, the Memorial Hall and the 16m high Statue.

Stage 2: Building  of the tea house and restaurant which can seat up to 1000 people.

Stage 3: building the Kwan- Yin Temple, Drum Tower and Bell Tower, office building, souvenir shop, exhibition and conference centre.

All buildings will be constructed in traditional Chinese temple style and red brick wall and golden roof top.

Upon completion of the whole project, not only will it serve as a temple for the Heavenly Queen devotees, it will also be a meeting place and destination for tourists.

You can learn more about the Heavenly Queen Temple here https://heavenlyqueentemple.com.au/