Mr Bidwell, a retired signwriter, transformed Portland over two decades with a paintbrush.

He started the ‘Wallnuts’ tradition in 2001, inviting signwriters from around Australia and the world to recreate vintage advertisements on the town’s walls. 

After a ten year reunion in 2011, the Wallnuts signwriters decided to make the ‘Wallnuts Weekend’ an annual event. “Or until there were no Wallnuts left standing”, Mr Bidwell wrote in the Village Voice.

Mr Bidwell’s neighbour and Wallnuts member Leila Constable said he would be sorely missed. 

“He was just a pillar of the community. And I mean that in every sense of the word,” she said. 

“He just made everyone feel welcome, he made everyone feel like they were contributing, it didn’t matter how small. He’d give people a sense of importance.”  

Ms Constable said he had a way of making his presence known. 

“He’d walk into the pub and the size of him, he was tiny, but he had the biggest voice and he’d sing out ‘Parra’ and everyone knew he was there,” she said.

“Everyone just loved him. He was quietly spoken but when he spoke you just stopped and you listened.”

Mr Bidwell’s work for his community did not go without recognition.

In 2008 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his service to business through the establishment of the Australian Sign and Graphics Association, and to the communities of Portland and Fairfield. He was a founding member and patron of the Fairfield City Museum. 

In 2013 Lithgow Rotary Club awarded Mr Bidwell the Paul Harris Fellow for his dedication to the Portland community through his involvement in several local associations, volunteering for community events like the Portland Art Show, maintenance of Portland’s Rotary Park, and his organisation of the ‘Signs of Yesteryear’ project. 

This year Mr Bidwell was named Portland’s Citizen of the Year at the town’s Australia Day ceremony, which he attended with his daughters Cassie and Michelle. 

Ms Constable said Mr Bidwell had a profound impact on her own life after she and her husband moved to Portland in 2014.

“As soon as we moved in Ron was up at our house with poetry about Portland and just made us feel so welcome,” she said. 

Having briefly worked as a signwriter herself, Ms Constable said Mr Bidwell built up her confidence to try it again. 

“I always painted but I never took it seriously until I got here,” she said.

“He touched a lot of people’s hearts.”

The Wallnuts will continue their work in Portland.

“Definitely, it’s his legacy,” Ms Constable said.

 “I just feel honored to be part of the family.” 

Ms Constable wanted to recognise the care and support of Mr Bidwell’s neighbour Roz and others who visited Mr Bidwell in his last months. 

The funeral service for Ron Bidwell will be held at 10.30am Friday, April 6, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Camden Valley Way in Leppington. Followed by a meeting at 1.00pm at Fairfield City Museum at 634 The Horsley Drive in Smithfield. 

A memorial for Ron Bidwell will be held at 10.30am at Rotary Park in Portland, outside the turn off to the golf club on Pipers Flat Road on Sunday, April 8. Everyone is then invited to go to the Coronation Hotel on Williwa Street. 

For more information visit the Wallnuts Facebook Page.