A FORMER Mackay man, who has worked on art projects in the city centre, is building a full-sized Gothic castle in Geeveston, Tasmania.

Francis Shepherd and Christina Kent started building Castle Phoenix in 2010 and have just finished their first battlements. They are funding the project themselves through tiling work, and the castle is expected to take another five years to complete.

Francis said it all started when he took a trip to Tasmania to escape the heat of Mackay. "In February 2004, I took a ten day tour of Tasmania to escape the summer heat. I fell in love with the climate and nature of Tasmania. In April, I met my partner Christina and fell in love again.

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"A couple of years later we visited Tasmania together for two weeks and found and purchased our present property. We moved to Tasmania in August 2007.

"We began building Castle Phoenix in 2010. This entire project is by far the largest art project either of us has ever worked on.

Castle Phoenix is being built in Tasmania by Mackay man Francis Shepherd. Contributed

"I designed this castle in the style of a Gothic fairytale. It's my concept of a modern day Australian castle. We have architectural plans and a good working relationship with the local council. The build and the surrounding sculptural gardens have been a tourist attraction since day one.

"For the first four years, all the work was done by myself as the builder and Christina as the labourer. As the word got around about this wonderful castle, we started to get volunteers who all want us to finish. They do things like mosaics, cutting bricks and tidying the build site. Last November, we achieved the second floor slab. A recent development has been the first battlements on the castle.

Plans for Castle Phoenix with Francis Shepherd and Christina Kent. Contributed

When the castle is completed in about five years, he will work on the sculpture gardens. "This involves making sculptures, seats, mosaics, organic shaped walls and walkways, much in the manner of Paronella Park in Cairns and Park Guell in Spain. We are hoping to create an artistic destination.”

Other projects the pair have worked on are the three emergency services wave walls in Mackay, and the two mosaic light towers in the Sydney Street markets in 2007.

"My own favourite projects I have worked on are the mosaic seat at the Tommy Webster Hall in Walkerston and the Sarina butterfly mosaic seat are stand-outs.

"I miss the tropical storms with their dramatic lightning and drenching rains. Where we live in Tasmania, we very rarely see lightning and what is called rain, we often are out in doing brickwork.”