Outdoor Artworks October 2009 - City of Melbourne

Outdoor Artworks
October 2009
Sculptures & Installations
Statues
Monuments & Architectural Works
Drinking Fountains
Water Features

CONTENTS
Sculptures &
Installations 1988 >>
Angel
Another View, Site 1
Another View, Site 8
Another View, Site 17
Architectural Fragment
Aurora
Beyond the Ocean of Existence
Bird Panels
Birrarung Wilam
Blowhole
Ceremony and Vehicle for Conveying Spirit
City Living
Coat of Arms
Commonwealth Games Aquatic Sculptures – Eels
Constellation
Cow Up a Tree
Dairy Hall Window
The Echo
Eel Trap
Fault Line
Federation Bells
A History Apparatus – Vessel, Craft and Beacon
Hotham Hill Pavement Inlay
Hotham Hill Seat
Island Wave
Larry LaTrobe
Lie of the Land
Lynch’s Bridge Mosaic Mural
Maxims of Behaviour
Painted Poles (1)
Painted Poles (2)
Passage
People’s Path
Personal Islands
The Public Purse
Reed Vessel
Resting Place
Scar – A Stolen Vision
Signature Work (Rabbit)
Silence
Speakers Corner
Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch: Batman,
Swanston and Hoddle
Tilly Aston Bell
Time and Tide
The Travellers
Vault
Weathervanes
Wind Contrivance
Within Three Worlds
Zoo Paving
Sculptures

The Phoenix
Robert Burns Memorial
Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop
Sir John Monash
Sir Thomas Blamey Memorial
Sir William John Clarke
Monuments &
Architectural Works
Australian Hellenic War Memorial
Bandstand
Burke and Wills Cairn
Chinese Lion Guardians
Edward George Honey Memorial
Eight Hour Day Memorial
Horse Hitching Post
James C. Roberts Memorial
Janet Lady Clarke Memorial
John Batman Memorial (1)
John F. Kennedy Memorial
King Edward VII
King George V Memorial
Model Tudor Village
Motorcycle
Pioneer Monument
Pioneer Women’s Memorial
Port Phillip Monument
Queen Victoria Memorial
Railway Viewing Platform
Separation Memorial
South African War Memorial
Sundial
Temple of the Winds
Drinking Fountains
Black Swan Memorial Drinking Fountain
Clayton Reserve Drinking Fountain
Councillor William Cook Memorial Drinking Fountain
Dinny O’Hearn Fountain
Domed Drinking Fountain
Duke & Duchess of York Memorial
George Hawkins Ievers Memorial Drinking Fountain
Henderson Drinking Fountain
Reynold’s Reserve Drinking Fountain
R.J. & F.G.J. Hardy Memorial Drinking Fountain
Samuel Mauger Drinking Fountain
Sir William Brunton Drinking Fountain
Stapley Memorial Drinking Fountain
Thomas Ferguson Memorial Drinking Fountain
Westgarth Drinking Fountain
William Jnr Ievers Memorial Drinking Fountain
William Snr Ievers Memorial Drinking Fountain
Water Features
Bali Memorial
Coles Fountain
Conservatory Fountain
Dolphin Fountain
Exhibition Fountain
French Fountain
Georges Fountain
Grant’s Fountain
Grey Street Fountain
Grollo Fountain
Grotto Waterfall
Lake Waterfall
Macpherson Robertson Fountain
Mockridge Fountain
River God Fountain
Spray Lake
Stanford Fountain
Walker Fountain

Sculptures & Installations 1988 >>
Angel
Deborah Halpern
Ceramic, steel and concrete sculpture, 1988
Owned by National Gallery of Victoria
Birrarung Marr (Melway ref. 2F, J6)
From 1988 until 2005, Deborah Halpern’s ceramic sculpture was sited in
the southern moat of the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road.
With its joyful spirit and arresting form, the 10-metre-high sculpture here
attracted the attention of passers-by and soon became one of the city’s
best known and loved public artworks.
A renowned sculptor and ceramicist, Melbourne-based Halpern pushed
the boundaries f ceramic art with Angel, creating a semi-abstract work
that resembles a three-legged llama in form and on which more than 4000
individually cut and hand-painted tiles are fixed to its concrete and steel
armature. The colourful images adorning this work reveal Picasso’s
influence on Halpern’s art. Since 2005, Angel has been sited on the banks
of the Yarra in Birrarung Marr, where the viewers can for the first time
see it from all sides. It remains part of the collection of the National
Gallery of Victoria, which commissioned the work in collaboration with
the Australian Bicentennial Authority.
Another View, Site 1
Ray Thomas and Megan Evans
Red granite and brass paving inlay, 1994
Parliament House, Spring St (Melway ref. 2F, J2)
This is one of several public artworks commissioned for the Another View
walking trail, only some of which remain. The trail was created to
recognise the shared history of particular city sites. Located outside
Parliament House, this paving inlay uses Ceremony, a painting created
during the 1980s by Wurundjeri ngungareta (headman) William Barak, to
reference the past of this site as a traditional ceremonial ground and a
meeting place for the people of the Kulin nation.
Another View, Site 8
Ray Thomas
Stone and brass paving inlay, 1994
Old Customs House, Immigration Museum, Flinders St (Melway ref. 2F,
D6)
This is one of few remaining public artworks commissioned for the
Another View walking trail. Here a silhouetted figure and horseshoes
commemorate the race won by an Aboriginal schoolboy, Peter, in 1876.
The plaque was intentionally placed in contrast to the John Batman
plaque, which commemorates his landing in 1835.

Another View, Site 17
Ray Thomas
Bluestone paver with brass inlay, 1994–95
Georges’ Fountain, Collins St (Melway ref. 2F, G4)
This is one of several public artworks commissioned for the Another View
walking trail. The seven brass figures are an interpretation of the Karak
Goruk (Seven Sisters) daughters of Bunjil, the Eagle man, and
Ganawarra, the Black Swan woman. The inlayed figures represent the
seven colours of the rainbow and are placed in juxtaposition to the
Georges’ Fountain, near the corner of Russell St.
Architectural Fragment
Petrus Spronk
Bluestone sculpture, 1992
Cnr Swanston & La Trobe Sts (Melway ref. 2F, E1)
Born in Holland, Petrus Spronk immigrated to Australia in 1957 and
trained as a ceramicist and sculptor in South Australia. He was
commissioned to undertake Architectural Fragment for the Swanston
Street Walk Public Art Project in 1992; the work was unveiled the
following year.
Sited outside the State Library of Victoria, the pyramidal, Port Fairy
bluestone sculpture represents a fragment of the library emerging from the
pavement as an archaeological artefact might. It has been conceived to
engage with its environment, visually connecting to its surroundings
through both form and material.
Spronk’s intention was to create a dialogue of sorts between art, history
and place. His inspiration was Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem
‘Ozymandias’, which speaks of the fragile and transient nature of all that
is human. Quoting from the poem, the pedestal reads: My name is
Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my work you Mighty, and despair.’
Architectural Fragment is a Pythagorean triangle, which expresses a
strong association with the geometry of ancient Greece. Like a fallen
classical monument, it reflects the past and alludes to the transience of the
present.
Aurora
Geoffrey Bartlett
Stainless-steel sculpture, 2006
Cnr Harbour Esplanade & Bourke St, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, G6)
The large sculptural work Aurora, at Victoria Point, engages with the
history of Docklands. The work’s central component is a sweeping netlike
form constructed in stainless steel, held aloft by three curved and tapering
stainless-steel legs. It is suggestive of technologies once used to move
cargo between ships and shore, underscoring the historical importance of
the site as a shipping port.
The work encourages passers-by to walk through it, but the vertical
elements also draw the viewer’s attention up to the main, netlike

component, challenging them to consider its meaning. Named after the
Greek goddess of dawn, Aurora’s stainless-steel surface is highly
reflective and responds to changes in natural light during the day. By
night, the main component is lit internally, creating the impression of a
glowing orb suspended above street level.
This is by no means Geoffrey Bartlett’s only work investigating a
maritime theme. Bartlett was commissioned to create the City of
Melbourne’s Constellation with Bruce Armstrong in 1997 and he created
Mariner for New Zealand’s Trans Tasman Shipping in 1988.
Beyond the Ocean of Existence
Loretta Quinn
Bronze sculpture on granite plinth, 1993
Cnr Swanston St & Flinders La (Melway ref. 2F, G5)
Born in Hobart, Loretta Quinn studied sculpture at the Tasmanian School
of Art and the Victorian College of the Arts. The City of Melbourne
commissioned Quinn to create Beyond the Ocean of Existence as part of
the Swanston Walk redevelopment in 1992; the sculpture was unveiled
the following year. The city also commissioned Quinn’s Within Three
Worlds, located in Princes Park.
Beyond the Ocean of Existence demonstrates Quinn’s reflective approach,
and it is a work replete with religious references. There is a sense of ‘folk
religion’ in much of her art, and whether the symbols derive from the
mystery of a Latin mass or the animist universe, a Celtic myth or a
Japanese garden, she says they are ‘visual references to which others will
relate’.
A patinated bronze sculpture, Beyond the Ocean of Existence comprises a
single large ball surrounded by eight bronze coils. A series of smaller
balls and lengths of column, both triangular and circular in cross-section,
surmount these coils. At the sculpture’s top is a stylised angel. The work
is a mounted on a granite plinth of dressed and polished blocks.
Bird Panels
Di Christensen and Bernice McPherson
Stainless-steel panels, 1995
Cnr Buncle St & Catyre Cr, North Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, E5)
Artists Di Christensen and Bernice McPherson made this work in
collaboration with the local community at Hotham Estate, North
Melbourne. The five stainless-steel panels are photo-etched with stylised
birds and affixed to the structural pillars supporting one of the residential
buildings. This work references the photo-etched panels in the public
seating at the estate’s entrance, which was also undertaken by Christensen
and McPherson, in collaboration with architect Craig Perry.

Birrarung Wilam
Vicki Couzens, Lee Darroch and Treahna Hamm
Stone, wood, stainless steel, bronze, nickel and audio installation, 2006
Birrarung Marr, adjacent to Federation Square (Melway ref. 2F, H6)
Birrarung Wilam – meaning river camp – is an environmental art project
made up of several interrelated elements that celebrate the physical and
spiritual connections between Indigenous people and place. The
philosophy underlying the work is gulpa ngawul, a Yorta Yorta word that
most closely translates as ‘deep listening’. Accordingly, this work by
Indigenous artists Vicki Couzens, Lee Darroch and Treahna Hamm
honours the traditions of tribes throughout Victoria, particularly those of
the Wurundjeri and Boonwerrung, on whose country the city and greater
Melbourne is located. Birrarung Wilam listens to and commemorates
cultural knowledge, stories and practices, revitalising them through the
reinterpretation of tradition and the site.
The central component of the work is the mound campsite, or puulwuurn,
supported by an eel pathway, two message sticks, five shields, a group of
ancestor stones, interpretative panels, water vessels and an audio
installation. The mound campsite is a contemporary recreation of a sitting
place, an element central to Aboriginal cultural life; significant artefacts
from Aboriginal groups from around Victoria have been interred within
the mound. The carved hardwood message sticks stand at the site’s
eastern and western ends, representing the Wurundjeri/woi wurrung and
Boonwerrung people, respectively, and welcoming visitors onto the site in
a gesture of reconciliation. The eel path refers to a primary food source,
trapped as they were near the shallow waterfalls that once separated the
freshwater river from the salty bay water, not far from this site. The five
large metal shields along the riverfront stand in complementary
opposition to the feminine form of the mound campsite. On the southern
side of the ArtPlay building, etched-metal panels, resembling possumskin
cloaks, interpret each element of Birrarung Wilam and are
augmented by a sound installation of Indigenous voices. The large, carved
ancestor stones are placed to form a semi-circular performance area, a
place where ceremonial and cultural practices can continue to keep the
connection to land vibrant.
A Commemorative Place Art Commission, Birrarung Wilam was funded
jointly by the City of Melbourne and Victorian government.
Blowhole
Duncan Stemler
Stainless-steel and aluminium sculpture, 2005
Docklands Park, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, G7)
Blowhole, by Sydney-based artist Duncan Stemler, is a 15-metre-high
wind-powered kinetic sculpture. Its many moving parts include arms and
anodised aluminium cups, which interact with each other to form
changing patterns, colours and shadows. Reflecting the site’s maritime
theme, together the cups resemble the form an anemometer, used on top
of a yacht’s mast. Blowhole is an environmentally responsive artwork,
expressing states ranging from calmness to frenzy, with the rotation speed
of its elements dependent on the strength and direction of the wind. By
day, the anodised cups pulse with reflected sunlight, by night they are lit

from within. The sculpture also is able to change its full aspect as it
rotates around its vertical axis.
Ceremony and Vehicle for Conveying Spirit
Maurie Hughes
Silicon bronze, galvanized and mild steel sculpture, 1996
Cnr Russell & Little Collins Sts (Melway ref. 2F, G3)
This monumental sculpture by Melbourne artist Maurie Hughes has been
designed to take advantage of the movement of traffic and pedestrians.
The use of staggered plinths explores the concept of ‘journey’ and the
pomp of ceremonial processions. The work also references Chris
Reynolds’ A History Apparatus, which is located on the same median
strip on the corner of Bourke Street. The idea of ‘spirit’ is conveyed
symbolically in the flue, through which forces trapped under the earth can
be released into the air. This element of the complex sculpture, with its
urn, archways and sentinels, is central to the commission.
Funded by Telstra and the City of Melbourne’s Urban & Public Art
Program, the sculpture is linked to the redevelopment of Telstra’s former
Russell Street exchange. The site incorporates the ventilation point for the
6.5 kilometres of decommissioned Telstra tunnels that run beneath
Melbourne’s CBD and which housed the line network. Hughes’ sculptural
vent was commissioned with a brief to incorporate the functional and
visually meaningful elements of the vent.
City Living
Andrew Rogers
Bronze sculpture, 1995
Cnr King & Jeffcott Sts, West Melbourne (Melway ref. 2E, K2)
Melbourne artist Andrew Rogers came to sculpture following a career in
business. His work is well represented on Melbourne’s streets, but he has
been particularly successful internationally. His work has been
commissioned in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas – two of his
largest works installed in the Arava Desert, Israel, and the Atacama
Desert, Chile.
In June 1995, Central Equity Homes commissioned Rogers to design a
sculpture to locate outside their West Melbourne residential development.
The 6.5-metre-high City Living is the result of that commission. Cast in
Fitzroy’s Meridian Foundry, the sculpture consists of five naked figures,
including an infant, balanced against half disks attached to a central
column. Two of the disks feature iconography that links this ‘family’ to
both the domestic space and the city fabric. While this is a large piece set
on an imposing concrete base, a certain lightness is achieved though the
aerial poses of the figures. City Living was donated to the City of
Melbourne in 1996.

Coat of Arms
City of Melbourne
Brass pavement inlay, 1992
Town Hall, Swanston St (Melway ref. 2F, F4)
The whaling, wool, cattle and maritime industries were all crucial to
Melbourne’s early development. To acknowledge the significance of
these industries, City of Melbourne staff designed a set of brass pavement
inlays that provide a modern interpretation of the symbols on the city’s
crest: the whale, cow, sheep and tugboat. The design is simple and bold,
enabling each emblem to be easily read by passers-by. The work’s
intention is to highlight the role these industries played in the city’s past,
as well as the role the latter three continue to play.
Commonwealth Games Aquatic Sculptures – Eels
Painted steel sculptures, 2006
Kensington Community Recreation Centre, cnr Kensington Rd & Altona
St (Melway ref. 42, J3)
A series of 71 large artworks depicting fish was created for the opening
ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Each
representing a nation of the Commonwealth, the fish sculptures were sited
along the centre of the Yarra River, where they remained for the duration
of the Games. They were such a ‘hit’ with the public that after the games
the sculptures were distributed to local governments and other not-forprofit
bodies throughout Victoria.
In early 2008, this component of the series was brought back into public
life with its relocation to the Kensington Community Recreation Centre;
here the two eels that comprise the work serve as mascots for the junior
swimming squads. The four-metre eels are modelled on the Southern
Shortfin Eel, a species native to the Yarra River so with special relevance
to Melbourne. Originally they formed the two sides of a single work.
Constellation
Bruce Armstrong and Geoffrey Bartlett
Stainless steel, copper and Cyrpus-pine sculpture, 1996
Enterprize Wharf, Yarra River (Melway ref. 2F, D7)
During the 19th century, the Yarra River near the corner of Queen and
Flinders Streets was the focus of Melbourne’s shipping activity. Natural
falls in the river created a barrier between the salt- and freshwater, and
just below the falls a natural widening in the river enabled boats to turn
around after unloading at Customs House (now the Immigration
Museum).
In 1996, the Yarra Turning Basin Project was launched. This would
recreate the historic turning basin, which had since been filled in, and
develop a new riverside promenade that would complement and extend
the existing spatial design of the river’s northern bank. The concept for
the site’s public artwork entailed a series of five figureheads, which

would sit on wooden piers that were integral to the design and material of
the timber wharf.
Council’s Public Art & Acquisitions Committee selected Bruce
Armstrong and Geoffrey Bartlett’s design from a short-list of four. Both
Armstrong and Bartlett are renowned Melbourne sculptors, each having
undertaken many public commissions and having exhibited widely. With
the working title ‘5 figureheads’, they crafted Constellation from wood
and metal, and using traditional and contemporary approaches to the
sculpture’s design. The five carved-wood figureheads represent a dragon,
woman, bird, man and lion. These evoke a long history of figurehead
carving from around the world and also reflect the ethnic and cultural
diversity of those who used the turning basin during the early years of
settlement. The constructed metal elements suggest maritime forms, lines
and images, but they are never simply literal; they require the viewer to
engage with the work to read their reference point. The title of this work,
too, pays homage to the long history of seafaring, the stars having guided
many a vessel from one port to another. Constellation was unveiled in
1997.
Cow Up a Tree
John Kelly
Bronze sculpture, 2000
Grand Plaza, Harbour Esplanade, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, G5)
John Kelly’s Cow Up a Tree at first seems something of a whimsical
work, but the sculpture has its roots in serious historical events. The artist
was inspired to create this work after seeing images of cows swept away
during terrible flooding in Gippsland; when the floodwaters subsided the
carcass of one cow was stranded high and dry in a tree. The work’s other
inspiration was in Australian artist William Dobell. With the beast’s long
neck and small head, Cow Up in a Tree is aesthetically linked to Dobell’s
Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Joshua Smith, a painting enmeshed in
an infamous court case during World War II in which ‘art’ was put on
trial. But during the war Dobell worked in the area of camouflage, and
one of his projects was to produce papier mâché cows to be placed on an
airfield in the hope of foiling Japanese pilots. Kelly’s sculpture brings
these stories together, pondering the fate of Dobell’s cows should the
Gippsland flood have inundated the airfield. Kelly’s surreal sculpture on
Harbour Esplanade, near the Telstra Dome, is cast in five tonnes of
bronze and stands eight metres high.
Dairy Hall Window
Artist Bernice McPherson; architect Craig Perry
Glass and steel window, 1996
Queen Victoria Market (Melway ref. 2B, C12)
Bernice McPherson and Craig Perry collaborated to produce this
ornamental window for Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Market,
which opened in the late 19th century. This window installation is located
on the Therry Street façade of the Dairy Produce Hall, or Deli Hall, and
features etched pastoral imagery, as well as associated objects, such as an
historic glass milk bottle, in the cavity between its internal and external
panes.

The Echo
Edward Ginger
Steel plate sculpture with polyurethane paint, 1996
Cnr Swanston & Little Bourke Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F3)
Born in Sri Lanka in 1951, Edward Ginger arrived in Australia in 1975
after completing his studies at the College of Fine Arts, Sri Lanka. He
undertook further studies in sculpture and printmaking at RMIT.
Ginger’s non-figurative The Echo takes its inspiration from Melbourne’s
rich and diverse cultures, particularly its Asian cultures. Both the design
and vibrant sienna colouring of the work have strong associations with
Eastern spirituality. The Echo is sited close to Chinatown and what was,
at the time of installation, the Bank of Hong Kong, with the intention of
connecting the work to its cultural environment. The design also seeks to
integrate disparate aspects; Ginger has incorporated seating to encourage
passers-by to linger and to interact with the sculpture, and to see it as part
of the streetscape rather than as an interloper from the lofty world of art.
The Echo was commissioned in 1992 as part of the Swanston Walk Public
Art Project, but its fabrication and installation were delayed due to a lack
of sponsorship. It was unveiled on the eve of Chinese New Year 1997, the
year following its completion.
Eel Trap
Fiona Clarke and Ken McKean
Plate-steel sculpture, 2003
Birrarung Marr (Melway ref. 2F, K6)
Fiona Clarke and Ken McKean’s Eel Trap is based on the design of a
traditional Indigenous eel trap. The plate-steel sculpture is painted red and
engraved with Indigenous designs. A local food source, eels were once
trapped close to this site, near the shallow waterfalls that used to exist
downstream, separating the freshwater of the river from the salty water of
the bay. Eel Trap was commissioned by the City of Melbourne in 2003.
Fault Line
Hossein Valamanesh
Sandstone, wood and bronze sculpture, 1996
Riverside Quay, Southbank (Melway ref. 1A, J12)
Hossein Valamanesh was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1949 and arrived in
Australia in 1970. His distinguished career has involved national and
international solo exhibitions across a variety of mediums.
Originally, his Fault Line, created for its Southbank site, comprised a 70metre
granite path to the river’s edge, a derelict wooden jetty, a
sandstone-veneer ‘ruin’ and two bronze half-figures and a rowboat. The
sculpture reflected Valamanesh’s abiding interest in memory, destruction
and survival.

Fault Line was partially decommissioned in 2007. By then, the two
figures had already been irreparably damaged and were removed, and the
sandstone ‘ruin’ at the southern extremity had become impossible to
maintain and keep safe. The regrettable decision was made to
decommission these elements of the work, along with the bronze rowing
boat and single oar that had not been stolen. In an effort to retain some
presence of the ‘ruin’, a trace of its plan was made using the original
sandstone. This memory trace is flush with the surrounding ground
surface. The boat and remaining oar have been stored offsite.
Federation Bells
Designers Neil McLachlan and Anton Hasell
Bronze-alloy bells on galvanised-steel poles, 2002
Owned by Arts Victoria; managed and programmed by City of
Melbourne
Birrarung Marr, near Exhibition St extension (Melway ref. 2F, K6)
The Federation Bells installation was commissioned by the Victorian
government in 1998, as part of commemorative celebrations for the
centenary of Australian federation (1901). Designed by Neil McLachlan
and Anton Hasell in collaboration with Swaney Draper Architects, the
installation comprises 39 upturned bells of differing sizes, mounted on
poles ranging from two to six metres high. The size of each bell
determines its pitch, and collectively the pitch ranges over four octaves.
Most of the bells are harmonic and very pure in their tone; seven are
polytonal, so able to play more than one pitch with a single hammer
strike. Unlike most modern Western instruments, the bells are ‘just
tuned’, a system that follows a harmonic series in nature and means the
bells emit a unique sound; music created for the bells must be composed
with this system in mind.
Seven Australian composers were commissioned to create pieces of four
to five minutes for the launch of the bells. Computer-controlled hammers
strike the bells to the tune of the programmed compositions. In 2008, the
City of Melbourne launched a website (www.federationbells.com.au) to
allow members of the public to compose their own pieces for the bells.
By walking among the bells or listening to them from up to 100 metres
away, visitors have different aural experiences of the music.
Eminent scientist and Australian of the Year (2000) Sir Gustav Nossal
launched the Federation Bells installation on 26 January 2002. In 2005,
the poles underwent a structural upgrade to ensure the longevity of the
work.
A History Apparatus – Vessel, Craft and Beacon
Chris Reynolds
Steel and fibreglass sculpture on bitumen, concrete and bluestone
foundation, 1993
Cnr Bourke & Russell Sts (Melway ref. 2F, G3)
Chris Reynolds’ A History Apparatus – Vessel, Craft and Beacon was
conceived as part of the National Metal Industry Sculpture Project, an

innovative sculpture-in-residency program that aimed to cultivate links
between the artistic and technical endeavours and the greater community.
The work comprises three main elements – the vessel, craft and beacon –
and three lesser elements – the chord, snip-ring and trestle. The main
components of this sprawling sculpture, 24 metres in length, refer to the
temporal concepts that anchor us in the world: the vessel represents the
past, the craft represents the present and the beacon represents the future.
A History Apparatus resulted from a collaborative effort between the
artist and the Australian Metal Workers Union, Aerospace Technology of
Australia and the City of Melbourne. Each of these organisations has an
illustrious past, and while the work gives a nod to these histories it also
comments on the continuity of time and how we all construct our
histories, presents and futures.
Hotham Hill Pavement Inlay
Bernice McPherson
Ceramic tiles and asphalt, 1995
Cnr Buncle St & Catyre Cr, North Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, E5)
This artwork resulted from a collaborative project between Bernice
McPherson and local residents. Comprising nine large asphalt squares
inset with small glazed-ceramic tiles, the work is sited in the pathway
leading into Hotham Estate.
Hotham Hill Seat
Bernice McPherson, Di Christensen and Craig Perry
Steel seat, 1995
Cnr Buncle St & Catyre Cr, North Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, E5)
This curved painted-metal seating is sited at the gateway into Hotham
Estate. Three photo-etched stainless-steel panels feature stylised birds and
form part of the seat’s back.
Island Wave
Lisa Young
Steel sculpture on concrete footing, 2003
Cnr Franklin & Queen Sts (Melway ref. 2F, B1)
Originally an illustrator of children’s books, Lisa Young has been a
practising artist since the early 1990s. She completed a Master of Fine
Arts at RMIT, where her research led her to explore repeated forms and
the rhythms they create. These concerns are apparent in Island Wave, her
first major public sculpture in Melbourne.
Island Wave is a large work that comprises a repeated motif and is sited
on the Franklin and Queen Streets roundabout. Young’s motif is a French
curve, to which she was drawn for its sensuality and its past use as a
mechanical drawing aid for the technical works executed by engineers
and architects. The repetition of this motif along the curve of the
roundabout creates a sense of movement, particularly for the motorist
travelling alongside it. It is scaled to give the sensation of both moving in

hythm to and being engulfed by a wave. Unlike a solid monolithic
sculpture, there is a ‘lightness’ about Island Wave, which is achieved by
its thinness, its open form and the sense of movement it evokes. Island
Wave engages both the motorist and pedestrian, and its prominent
location near Queen Victoria Market ensures that it has a local and
international audience.
This elegant sculpture was created as the inaugural work for the council’s
Melbourne Collection Commissions, a fund for significant and permanent
site-specific works by contemporary artists. It was fabricated by Gilbro
Engineering and installed by Famous Constructions. Controversially, the
sculpture replaced Tom Bill’s With and With Each Other, which despite
having only a three-month permit had remained on the roundabout since
the 1998 Construction in Process Sculpture Festival. Island Wave was
launched by Lord Mayor John So and Councillor Kimberly Kitching in
October 2003.
Larry LaTrobe
Pamela Irving
Bronze sculpture, 1992 and 1996
Cnr Collins & Swanston Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F4)
Pamela Irving created Larry LaTrobe in 1992 as part of the Percent for
Art Program and Swanston Street redevelopment. He is a life-size dingolike
dog who surveys the activity in City Square. Larry was based loosely
on Irving’s dog, Lucy, and on her uncle, Larry. She claims that the dog is
iconic to Australia, and from the moment it was unveiled, Larry LaTrobe
became one of Melbourne’s most loved sculptures.
Despite being anchored to the site with 30-centimetre bolts, Larry
disappeared in August 1995. Council immediately launched a campaign
for his return, but to no avail. On hearing of the theft, Larry’s most ardent
admirer, Mr Peter Kolliner, who had owned the foundry where he was
cast, offered to produce another one. Irving altered the new Larry’s
colouring to affect some individuality (he has a redder tinge), but in all
other respects he is the same.
Larry was officially welcomed home on 16 September 1996. Melbourne
band Jugularity entertained the crowd with an ode to the sculpture, ‘Larry
Come Home – a dogumentary’, sung to the tune of ‘Advance Australia
Fair’.
Lie of the Land
Fiona Foley and Chris Knowles
Sandstone sculpture, 1997
Melbourne Museum, Carlton Gardens (Melway ref. 2B, J10)
Born in 1964, Brisbane-based Indigenous artist Fiona Foley studied in
Sydney and at St Martin’s School of Art in London. Collaborator Chris
Knowles is a sound artist who has created many sound installations. Like
Foley, Knowles is both an academic and practising artist.
Lie of the Land comprises seven sandstone pillars standing some three
metres high. Each pillar is inscribed with a commodity that John Batman

lists in his diary as an item he traded with Wurundjeri elders in 1835 to
secure 600,000 acres of their land around Port Phillip Bay: ‘blankets’,
‘knives’, ‘looking glasses’, ‘tomahawks’, ‘beads’, ‘scissors’ and ‘flour’.
Knowles’ soundscape accompanies this compelling work, with Batman’s
entry on the controversial exchange read out in Woi wurrung – the local
Indigenous language – and several other languages representing the ethnic
groups present in Australia around the time of settlement. The etched
pillars are a powerful symbol; tombstone-like, they speak the fate of many
Indigenous people through the process of settlement and colonisation.
Placed near the entrance to Melbourne Museum, this sculpture also
speaks eloquently of the relationship this institution once had with
Indigenous peoples, collecting often-sacred items and relics, and at times
by inappropriate means. In relation to the historical and political nature of
this work, Fiona Foley has stated, ‘As the history has been written by the
victors, it is only now that the silent histories of the Indigenous
populations are given a voice’.
Lie of the Land was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to coincide
with the Australian Reconciliation Convention, held in Melbourne in May
1997, and the 30th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, which gave
Indigenous Australians the right to vote. The sculpture was originally
sited outside the Town Hall on Bourke Street and was later moved to a
forecourt of Melbourne Museum.
Lynch’s Bridge Mosaic Mural (The Back Gate)
Elizabeth MacKinnon
Ceramic tile mural, 1998
Epsom Road Underpass, Newmarket (Melway ref. 42, J2)
In 1992, Elizabeth MacKinnon was commissioned to create a public
artwork for the old Newmarket saleyards, transformed into a residential
neighbourhood as part the state government Lynch’s Bridge Project.
Commissioned at a key juncture in the site’s life, the mosaic recollects the
saleyards’ past and acknowledges its future through its two pictorially
distinct parts.
The Epsom Road underpass was known as ‘the back gate’ during the
saleyards’ 126-year history. The back gate was where all livestock passed
following its auction, each beast counted so a fee could be levied for the
City Council. It is here that the mural is sited.
During MacKinnon’s research for the part known as ‘In Memory of the
Newmarket Saleyards’ she consulted with former stockmen and older
community members to pay homage to the saleyards and to those whose
working lives were structured by it. The mural depicts the stockmen with
their horses and dogs, driving sheep and cattle to market as they did for
many years.
MacKinnon worked closely with members of the new Lynch’s Bridge
community to devise the 12 panels comprising ‘To the Future’. This
section of the mural expresses a sense of place for residents, ranging over
their cultural and migratory heritage and referencing the history of the
area’s natural environment.

The mosaic mural was gifted to the City of Melbourne by the Victorian
state government. Before its official unveiling at Epsom Road underpass
in 1998, it toured to towns in country Victoria and was displayed at
Footscray’s Living Museum of the West.
Maxims of Behaviour
Alexander Knox
Kinetic light installation, 2008
Royal Mail House, cnr of Bourke & Swanston Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F3)
Maxims of Behaviour plays across the distinctive 10-storey, 1960s’ facade
of Royal Mail House. Set among the giant billboards and screens of the
south-eastern corner of the Bourke and Swanston Streets, Alexander
Knox’s kinetic light work can be seen each winter evening from dusk till
late, until 2012.
The work features colourful abstract imagery that moves spectral-like
across the façade, transforming the site into a dynamic entity, a living
thing that inhabits the area. The imagery is produced from abstracted
video footage of the city’s light, colour and movement, and it acts as a
mimetic device that echoes and feeds off its surrounds. The installation
becomes an integral part of the nightscape, complementing the floodlit
surroundings, creating an organic synthesis of movement and light. The
title of the work is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘Phantasmagoria’, in
which the author draws an insightful parallel between ghosts and us.
Some 88 multi-coloured LED lights mounted on the ledges of the
building facade are used produce the moving montage of light. This
matrix of computer-controlled lights projects onto the surface of the
building, with each light effectively acting as a pixel. Each night the
average energy consumption is equivalent to running a 2400W small
electric heater. The LEDs have a lifespan of 100,000 hours; they are very
low maintenance and run on green power.
The City of Melbourne commissioned Alexander Knox to make Maxims
of Behaviour as part of its Public Art Program.
Painted Poles (1)
Jennifer McCarthy
Metal poles, 1992
State Library of Victoria, Swanston St (Melway ref. 2F, E1)
Jennifer McCarthy’s sculpture comprises three poles painted in a
colourful, highly decorative style. This work is not considered permanent.
The City of Melbourne commissioned the work as part of the Swanston
Street Walk Public Art Project.
Painted Poles (2)
Maree Clarke and Sonja Hodge
Metal poles, 1992
City Square, Swanston St (Melway ref. 2F, F5)
This sculpture by Indigenous artists Maree Clarke and Sonja Hodge
features three poles that have been painted with the Rainbow Serpent
(1) (2)

design and with native Australian animals. The work references Jennifer
McCarthy’s similar three poles sited outside the State Library of Victoria.
The work was part of the Swanston Street Walk Public Art Project and is
not considered permanent.
Passage
Mark Stoner
Bluestone sculpture, 1994
Queen Victoria Market, cnr Therry & Queen Sts (Melway ref. 2F, C12)
Born in England in 1951, Mark Stoner has exhibited widely and his work
is represented in the National Galleries of Australia and Victoria. In 1991,
he was commissioned to undertake a memorial to the former cemetery
site and those once buried here. Stoner’s monumental, nonrepresentational
sculpture evokes the timelessness and symbolism of an
ancient Egyptian pyramid. He has described the work as ‘a passage for
memories or dreams’, but the site is also a place of passage between
worlds. Stonemasons Huntley Barton and Brian Johns worked his design
by hand, using a material Stoner chose for its link to the founding of
Melbourne.
A bronze plaque alongside a map of the former cemetery reads: ‘Passage
commemorates the Old Melbourne General Cemetery, which was located
on this site between 1837 and 1917. The illustration is based on a map if
1863. In 1878, the market expanded and took up the area between
Victoria and Fulton Streets, three-quarters of the Jewish allotment and all
the Society of Friends and Aboriginal allotments. Between 1920 and
1922, 914 bodies were exhumed and reinterred in other cemeteries around
Melbourne. By 1936, the Queen Victoria Market expanded to take up the
entire Old Melbourne General Cemetery site.’
People’s Path
Ian Sprague, et al.
Terracotta bricks (tiles), 1978–79
Fitzroy Gardens, cnr Landsdowne St & Cathedral Pl (Melway ref. 2G,
B2)
People’s Path originates from a community art project, providing a
metaphorical means by which the community can take ownership of a
public space. This work comprises approximately 10,000 standard
terracotta bricks set in the three concentric circles surrounding a raised
garden bed, with plantings of palms and ivy. The exposed face of each
brick features a hand-etched drawing. The associated plaque advises that
the ‘tiles’ were made by the people of Victoria on the opening day of the
Arts Victoria 78 Craft Festival. The path was opened by the Hon. R.J.
Hamer, then premier and arts minister, on the 18 February 1979.
Personal Islands
Robert Jacks
Brass and bluestone, 1992
Swanston St, near cnr Bourke St (Melway ref. 2F, F3)
Robert Jacks’ work is held in many collections, including those of the
Australian National Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria.

In 1988, Jacks spent six months in Cornwall, England, during which he
filled 28 sketchbooks with drawings based on graffiti from museums and
the streets. Personal Islands takes its inspiration from those sketches,
transforming the illicit art of graffiti into a sanctioned and more
permanent form.
The Public Purse
Simon Perry
Calca red-granite and stainless-steel sculpture, 1994
Cnr Bourke St Mall & Elizabeth St (Melway ref. 2F, E3)
In January 1994, the City of Melbourne called for design submissions for
unique and distinctive forms of street seating. Simon Perry’s The Public
Purse was one of the works selected. This piece was commissioned as
part of council’s Percent For Art Program, in which one per cent of
council’s capital works budget went towards funding public artworks,
with the goal of integrating public art into the design and development of
the city.
In creating The Public Purse, Perry was interested making an object that
would work both conceptually and poetically, while still addressing the
context of the site. The Public Purse engages with its environment
through its clear reference to the commercial nature of the area. Perry
says of this red-granite sculpture that it ‘signifies an interaction between
the city and citizens, the public and the private’. Looking like nothing less
than an oversized dropped purse, this public seating can be located
anywhere in the retail district without ever looking out of place.
Reed Vessel
Virginia King
Stainless-steel and aluminium sculpture, 2004
Navigation Dr, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, G7)
Virginia King’s Reed Vessel is an 18-metre-long vessel form sitting high
above a clear, reflective pool in Docklands Park. The maritime nature of
the work acknowledges the history of the site and embraces the themes of
migration, passage and survival. The area on which it is located was once
extensive tidal wetlands, which provided abundant food and spiritual
connections to the area for its traditional owners. The basket-like vessel
also symbolises a container in which memories are held – memories of
the undeveloped site and its traditional uses, but also of the ocean
journeys that have brought early settlers and later generations of migrants
to these shores.
Reed Vessel’s airy, metaphorical form is achieved through the joining of
more than 300 stainless-steel pieces into a canoe form. It sits upon a
cradle created by two louvred water screens, down which water gently
flows and through which a fine mist is emitted. The screens are etched
with the words of Australian writers and poets, quotations related to the
river and the sea, to memory and the passing of time. A pedestrian bridge
forms part of the work, taking passers-by across the pool and through the
base of the cradle.

Resting Place
Bronwyn Snow
Steel and jarrah seat, 1994
Cnr Swanston & Little Lonsdale Sts (Melway ref. 2F, E2)
Bronwyn Snow’s Resting Place is a sculpture that combines aesthetics
and function. Commissioned through the City of Melbourne’s Percent for
Art Program, this double-sided seat of steel and jarrah offers the urban
flâneur a place to rest, take stock and take in the urban environment. The
decorative elements of the seat include two serpents – traditionally a
symbol of healing, rebirth and female power – towering sunflowers,
which watch over the seated, and ivy. Snow claims of the work that it is
‘a stopping point, a resting place for the weary spiritual traveller’.
Scar – A Stolen Vision
Producer Kimba Thompson; artists Karen Casey, Craig Charles, Glenn
Romanis, Maree Clarke, Ray Thomas, Ricardo Idagi and Treahna Hamm
Wooden pier post and metal sculptures, 2001
Enterprize Park, Yarra River (Melway ref. 2E, C7)
Scar trees are found in many parts of Australia, physically marking the
historical presence of Indigenous people. Scar trees are produced by the
removal of bark for the purpose of making canoes, coolamons and
shields, but also for more sacred purposes, such as to indicate a burial
site. Significant cultural artefacts, scar trees are vectors for cultural
identity, essential in establishing pre-contact occupation of an area and
important in understanding traditional culture and practices.
Sited at Enterprize Park, on the northern bank of the Yarra River just west
of Queens Bridge, Scar – A Stolen Vision is a collaborative work by
Indigenous artists that engages with the tradition of tree scarring. The
installation symbolises the landscape marked by scar trees, articulating
the presence of Indigenous people and their connection to country. The
term ‘scar’ links with wounds, healing and memory – concepts embodied
in the work.
Artistic director Kimba Thompson brought together seven visual artists to
create contemporary works that convey tradition and underscore
continuity with past practices. Karen Casey, Craig Charles, Glenn
Romanis, Maree Clarke, Ray Thomas, Ricardo Idagi and Treahna Hamm
worked on 30 pier poles recycled from the Docklands project along the
Yarra. Carving, burning, painting and reshaping the poles, the artists
impart stories relating to their culture, people and history through their
own distinctive art practices – essentially modern forms of tree scarring.
Scar was commissioned by the City of Melbourne as part of Federation
events in Victoria, and was co-funded by Arts Victoria and the state
government. It was first displayed in City Square in March 2001, at which
time it included a soundscape by Lou Bennett and Peter Mumme, which
layered the histories and communities of the scar poles with sounds that
mimicked their production. The poles were relocated to Enterprize Park in
2003.

Signature Work (Rabbit)
Emily Floyd
Painted aluminium sculpture, 2004
Waterview Walk, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, H6)
Melbourne artist Emily Floyd’s Signature Work is a playful addition to
the public art collection at Docklands. Resembling an abstracted toy
rabbit, it is intended to amuse and confound passers-by. Standing nearly
four metres high and coated in black Polyurethane paint, the aluminiumplate
sculpture is also reminiscent of futuristic creations such as Darth
Vader, or the menacing rabbit figure in the film Donny Darko. Planted in
the urban landscape of Docklands, the presence of this giant rabbit is both
cute and unsettling as it looms over the viewer.
Silence
Adrian Mauriks
Fibreglass sculpture, 2001–02
NewQuay Promenade, Docklands (Melway ref. 2E, E4)
Silence, by Adrian Mauriks, comprises 13 sculptural elements in
fibreglass resin, which unfold across an area of 18.5 metres by 12.5
metres outside Arkley Tower. The tallest of the sculptures stands 4.6
metres high. Coated in white acrylic paint, the sensuous, smooth forms
that comprise the work suggest an abstracted natural environment, which
becomes surreal by night when the sculpture is lit. The work has a quiet
presence, invoking contemplation and yet inviting the viewer to walk
among the elements and to touch them. The artist says of the work that it
is ‘a series of forms arousing to the mind, appealing to memory’.
Gippsland-based Mauriks has exhibited widely in Australia and
internationally, and produced several commissions. The state government
requires that all Docklands developers spend one per cent of their project
costs commissioning integrated artworks. Silence was the first significant
artwork to be installed at NewQuay.
Speakers Corner
Evangelos Sakaris
Earthwork and pink-granite memorial, c. 2000
Birrarung Marr, near Exhibition St extension (Melway ref. 2F, K7)
For most of its venerable past Speakers Corner has been known as Yarra
Bank, a site for political, religious and ideological debate. Between 1890
and the 1960s orators would gather to articulate their views on local and
international issues. It was originally a one-hectare, heavily treed area at
the western tip of Flinders Park, where orators voiced opinion and dissent
from nine bluestone-faced granite mounds (probably built in the 20th
century). The site was most attended during periods of upheaval and
struggle, such as during World War I, the Depression and the 1940s,
when leftist politics were beginning to feel the force of repression. From
the 1960s, and with the rise of more varied media, the site has been
comparatively quiet, serving as a meeting place for participants following
the annual May Day parade.
The construction of the Exhibition Street extension to Batman Avenue in

the late 1990s saw changes to Speakers Corner, now integrated into the
western point of Birrarung Marr. It was reduced in size to a half hectare,
eight of its established trees were removed and three of its mounds were
resited at the western side of the site. An interpretive sculpture by
Evangelos Sakaris has been added, comprising four low-lying, stepped
pink-granite outcrops. Inscribed with quotations, these outcrops are
spread across the site. The National Speakers Association of Australia
was responsible for a commemorative plaque being placed at the site. It
honours all those who, throughout history, have informed the public on
matters of interest and concern.
Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch:
Batman, Swanston and Hoddle
Alison Weaver and Paul Quinn
Bronze sculpture, 1993
Cnr Swanston & Bourke Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F3)
This whimsical, life-size sculpture of three businessmen carrying
lunchboxes is located in the heart of Melbourne. Artist Alison Weaver
claims that while the men are named and motionless, they are also
intended to be anonymous and to represent being ‘trapped in the perpetual
motion of consumerism’. Weaver figures these three Melbourne pioneers
as ‘pedestrians of vast time’ who have returned to the city streets and says
her interpretation of them is driven by humour rather than by iconoclasm.
Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch was commissioned in
1993 as part of the Swanston Street Art Works Program, and was a gift to
the City of Melbourne from the Republic of Nauru to celebrate the city’s
150th anniversary.
Tilly Aston Bell
Anton Hasell
Bronze sculpture, 1999
Kings Domain (Melway ref. 2F, K9)
This sculpture by Victorian artist Anton Hasell commemorates the
centenary of the Vision Australia Foundation and the life and
achievements of its founder, Tilly Aston. Formerly known as the
Association for the Blind, this organisation has provided services and
advocacy for people with blindness and vision impairment since 1895.
Tilly Aston was the first blind person in Australia to attend university, but
her education was cut short by an absence of textbooks in Braille. In
1894, she established a Braille library and a year later founded the
Association for the Blind, the aim of which was to improve the quality of
life for the blind through self-help rather than through charity. She was
responsible for gaining for the blind free post for Braille and talking
books, free travel on public transport and the right to vote.
Hasell’s interactive sculpture consists of three connecting bells cast in
bronze, and features images of Aston. When this work is approached,
movement sensors trigger a series of tolls. Fittingly, the inscription on one
bell is in Braille.

Time and Tide
Akio Makigawa
Bluestone, white marble, bronze and stainless-steel sculpture, 1994
Cnr Swanston & Little Collins Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F4)
Born in Japan in 1948, Akio Makigawa arrived in Australia in 1974. He
worked as a sail maker in Perth before studying sculpture at the
Claremont School of Art and WAIT (now known as Curtain University).
Makigawa moved to Melbourne in 1991, where he undertook many
public commissions, both in Melbourne and interstate. Makigawa died in
1999.
Time and Tide was commissioned by the City of Melbourne through its
Percent for Art Program. Like many of Makigawa’s works, this sculpture
is monumental in scale. It comprises horizontal and vertical elements,
which extend some 20 metres over its Town Hall Plaza site. Fibre optics
are embedded in the concrete and the light they emit creates a different
mood night and day. The individual elements of Time and Tide loosely
represent a tree – signifying growth, knowledge and the land – a flame –
signifying rebirth and transcendence – and a shell – signifying the ocean.
The Travellers
Artist Nadim Karam; manufacturer Arup Engineering
Stainless-steel tubing and glass panel installation, 2005
Sandridge Bridge, Yarra River (Melway ref. 2F, E7)
The Travellers celebrates Indigenous presence and the meeting of cultures
through migration. It comprises 10 large-scale sculptures, each
approximately 7.5 metres tall and collectively incorporating
3.7 kilometres of stainless steel. Nine of the 10 figures are motorised and
at regular intervals move along the length of Sandridge Bridge, sited near
a former Aboriginal meeting ground and near the landing point where
many early migrants stepped ashore. Built in 1888, the bridge is the third
to occupy this site, the original constructed in 1853.
Designed by Beirut-based artist Nadim Karam, The Travellers tells a
history of migration to Australia. Each of the 10 figures comprising the
work represents a phase of arrival, as historian James Jupp has defined
these. The figures, graphic and abstracted in form, are Gayip (Aboriginal
period); First Settler (convict period); Melbourne Beauty (gold rushes);
Walker and His Tucker Bag (assisted migration); Shelter (displaced
persons); Urban Wheel (European migration); Running Couple
(refugees); Butterfly Girl (Asian and Middle Eastern migration);
Technoman (students and professionals); and Walking Sun
(multiculturalism). Below the figures, a series of etched glass panels
stretch across the bridge, a component in this history of migration to
Australia.
This work was commissioned by the City of Melbourne and Victorian
government, and launched in 2005.

Vault (aka Yellow Peril)
Ron Robertson-Swann
Steel plate sculpture, 1980
ACCA, Southbank (Melway ref. 2F, G10)
Born in Sydney in 1941, Ron Robertson-Swann studied sculpture at St
Martin’s School of Art, in London, under Tony Caro. Robertson-Swann
was also an assistant to renowned sculptor Henry Moore before returning
to Australia in 1968. His work has often divided critics, but none has been
so controversial as Vault, unveiled in City Square in 1980.
Dubbed the ‘Yellow Peril’ by Councillor Osborne, the yellow metal
sculpture caused a storm of protest over its suitability for City Square.
Ironically, it was commissioned for its compatibility with the square’s
design. The winner of a competition organised by the square’s architects,
Robertson-Swann’s design met the challenge of being a ‘grand
interlocked sculpture’. It also met the requirement of being bold, visually
simple and a strong focal point, which would offset the formal character
of the square. But while Vault met these objectives, it was a little too
abstract for public taste.
Professor Patrick McCaughey gave his full support to the work,
applauding it for design excellence. Recognising McCaughey’s reputation
in visual arts, council approved the plans. When the sculpture was
installed it was yet to be named, and despite Robertson-Swann soon
naming it Vault, Yellow Peril, with its racist overtones, has stuck.
Following its installation in 1980, Councillor Osborne tabled a survey
showing Melburnians’ lack of support for the sculpture’s prominent
position, based on the opinion that it was not sympathetic to the nearby
historic St Paul’s Cathedral and Town Hall. Council resolved to relocate
the work, but not before it was scrawled with graffiti and used as a play
structure. Despite the artist’s objections, in 1981 Vault was moved to
Batman Park, where among other things it served as a shelter for the
homeless. In 2002, Vault was unveiled at its new home outside ACCA,
where most consider it in keeping with the surrounding built environment.
Weathervanes
Daniel Jenkins
Hand-beaten copper sculpture with gold-leaf detail, 1993
Cnr Bourke & Swanston Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F3)
Daniel Jenkins was born in Kansas, USA, in 1947, and arrived in
Australia in 1981. He studied extensively in Europe, and is a jeweller and
silversmith by trade. The technique Jenkins employed on Weathervanes is
repoussé, where the metal is beaten from its underside to give shape and
relief to the design. Jenkins acquired the technique while visiting Venice
on a Palladio Foundation scholarship.
Each of the four weathervanes takes the shape of an animal: a horse, pig,
fish and bird. They are positioned high on tram poles to give aerial
performances with each gust of wind. The vanes have been conceived to
represent specific aspects of Melbourne: the bird symbolises the city’s
parks and gardens; the horse symbolises its culture and sport; the fish
refers to its waterways; and the pig represents the city’s hope and future –

the latter a tongue-in-cheek reference to ‘pigs can fly’. Jenkins said of the
sculpture, ‘I wanted each of these weathervanes to be cartoon-like and
even frivolous. We take our cities for granted and with the daily
pedestrian bustle it is always business as usual. It takes something very
unusual to attract someone’s eye. I want people to look up and smile!’
The City of Melbourne commissioned Jenkins to make this work, which
took him four months to complete. Lord Mayor Councillor Des Clark
unveiled Weathervanes in March 1993.
Wind Contrivance
Pauline Fraser
Bronze, Red Gum and Harcourt granite sculpture, 1995
Queen Victoria Market, Therry Street (Melway ref. 2B, C12)
Pauline Fraser was born in 1953 on remote Christmas Island. She studied
sculpture at Monash University and RMIT, and has exhibited her work
widely in Australia. In 1994, the City of Melbourne commissioned Fraser
to undertake Wind Contrivance through its Percent for Art Program. The
work was sculpted in Fraser’s studio at Lurg, 20 kilometres from Benalla,
and cast at the Meridian Foundry in Fitzroy.
This large bronze sculpture – featuring an array of vegetables, fish and an
Aboriginal fishing net – looks whimsically to the relationship between the
land and city, tradition and lifestyle, production and consumption. Like
Bernice Murphy’s Dairy Hall Window, with which it was unveiled in
August 1996, Wind Contrivance is sited at Queen Victoria Market, a
centre point between land and city, and a cipher through which the
country harvest is distributed to city dwellers.
Within Three Worlds
Loretta Quinn
Bronze sculpture, 1995
Princes Park, North Carlton (Melway ref. 29, G10)
Angela Jane Esdaile was 24 years old when she died of acute asthma in
December 1993, while walking with friends along Rye beach. She was a
tireless community worker, who made a significant contribution to the
community, particularly with regards children and young adults.
Following Angela’s death, her family donated funds towards a memorial
artwork. In 1994, local artist Loretta Quinn was commissioned to
undertake this work, which would commemorate Angela’s contribution to
the community, as well as those of all childcare workers.
Within Three Worlds comprises a bronze figure of a young girl looking
out over a pond, in which three vessels sit. The figure represents Anna as
a child, but is an ‘every child’ that embodies the innocence of youth and
possibilities of the future. Due to the drought, the pond is currently
without and the three vessels have been placed in storage.

Zoo Paving
Tanya Court and Kate Cullity
Coloured concrete paving, 1995
Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens (Melway ref. 29, F12)
Kate Cullity is an artist and landscape gardener and Tanya Court an
environmental and community artist. In this work, which stretches along
the zoo’s perimeter wall and footpath, the artists have sandblasted the
concrete to create floral and faunal images. Their intention was to create a
visual and thematic link between the zoo and car park.

Sculptures

Boy and Pelican
William Leslie Bowles
Pyrmont sandstone sculpture, 1936
Fitzroy Gardens, Hotham St entrance (Melway ref. 2G, D3)
William Leslie Bowles was born in 1885 in Leichhardt, NSW. He studied
sculpture in Brisbane and then London, at the latter under the tutelage of
renowned sculptor Bertram Mackennal. He joined the Australian War
Memorial in 1924, where he produced several sculptures, including The
Man with the Donkey, a tribute to Private Simpson. On leaving the
memorial in 1931, Bowles undertook many public commissions.
Bowles sculpted Boy and Pelican from Pyrmont sandstone. The boy sits
atop the back of a pelican, its wings outstretched. This sculpture is one that
replaced the much deteriorated plaster statuary in Fitzroy Gardens, which
Clement Hodgkinson had donated in the 1860s. It was one of three works
created by Bowles for this purpose. This statue and his Mermaid and Fish
were originally placed at the Clarendon Street entrance to the gardens,
while his Diana and the Hounds is sited at the conservatory. The head of
the boy was replaced in 1973, the statue having fallen victim to vandalism.
Boy and Urn
Artist unknown
Bronze fountain, date unknown
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B2)
Little is known of the history of this work. It was erected in the Fitzroy
Gardens around 1900, possibly under the curatorship of John Guilfoyle,
who was, at the turn of the century, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Positioned atop a rockery, the fountain features a bronze figure of a small
boy tipping an urn held on his shoulder, from which water spills into the
bowl below. The erection of this work was part of a tradition of placing
classically inspired, or copied, statuary in the city’s gardens – a practice
that ceased by the 1930s.
Boy on a Turtle
Artist unknown
Bronze statue, c. 1850
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B4)
This bronze sculpture of a cherub-like boy astride the back of a turtle has
led a long and eventful life. Boy on a Turtle was erected in Carlton Gardens
during the 1850s, where it first stood in a prominent position on the corner
of Victoria and Rathdowne Streets before being relocated in 1937 to the
Nicholson Street side of the gardens. Some years later the statue was moved
to its present home in Fitzroy Gardens; appropriately, Boy on a Turtle sits
in the lower lake of the gardens. In March 1977, this popular statue was
stolen from the gardens – a remarkable feat considering the great weight of
the bronze. It was also the fate suffered by Larry LaTrobe nearly 20 years
later. Two and a half years after the sculpture’s disappearance, police found
it in an abandoned Richmond car park.

Bust of Dr Louis Smith
Edgar Bertram Mackennal
Bronze bust with granite pedestal, 1914
Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens (Melway ref. 2B, J10)
Born in London in 1830, Dr Louis Smith immigrated to Melbourne in 1852.
Besides medicine, Smith had a career as a politician, during which he was
accused and acquitted of corruption several times. An important figure
during the development of the Exhibition Building, Smith was chair of the
trustees from 1884 to 1909 and a trustee from 1881 until his death in 1910.
Bertram Mackennal’s bronze bust of Smith was funded by public
subscription and is sited at the eastern entrance to his beloved building.
Bust of Sir Samuel Gillott
Charles Douglas Richardson
Marble statue, 1905
Foyer, Melbourne Town Hall Administration Building (Melway ref. 2F,
F4)
The prolific sculptor Charles Douglas Richardson produced this imposing
bust. He was born in England and arrived in Australia in 1858. He studied
first in Melbourne and then London before returning to Australia, where he
produced many war memorials, as well as the famous Mercury statue for
the former Age building in Collins Street and the George Hawkins Ivers
Memorial Drinking Fountain.
Sir Samuel Gillott was Melbourne’s first lord mayor, serving from 1902 to
1903. The period he spent in office was not without controversy, and his
political career came to a blunt conclusion in 1906 when he was found in
compromising circumstances. In 1904 the Truth newspaper alleged that he
had been secretly funding the Madam Brussells brothel, an establishment
frequented by some of Melbourne’s most influential people.
The Court Favourite
Paul Montford
Bronze statue with granite pedestal, date unknown
Flagstaff Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, A1)
Paul Montford was born in London in 1868. He studied at London’s
prestigious Royal Academy of Arts and immigrated to Australia in 1921.
Montford was responsible for a number of commissions in Melbourne,
including the statues of Justice George Higinbotham and poet Adam
Lindsay Gordon. For the latter he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal
Society of British Sculptors.
Montford’s The Court Favorite captures the action of a lithe youth playing
with his boisterous pet lion cub. The cub crouches low and tugs fiercely at
the youth’s cloak. In his right hand the youth clasps a decorated baton, its
handpiece a carved elephant head.
Councillor Baron Marks donated the statue to the Melbourne City Council.
He had initially donated £200 towards statuary for Melbourne’s parks and
gardens, but when The Court Favorite became available he increased his

donation to £400. The work was unveiled at a formal ceremony on 6
February 1930.
Diana and the Hounds
Sculptor William Leslie Bowles; founder A.B. Brunton
Cast bronze statue on granite pedestal, 1940
Conservatory, Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B4)
William Leslie Bowles joined the Australian War Memorial as a sculptor
and model maker in 1924. After leaving the memorial he took on public
commissions.
In 1935, three of Bowles’ designs were selected to replace the existing and
much deteriorated statuary in Fitzroy Gardens. His Diana and the Hounds
replaced a cement statue copied from the Roman Diana, Goddess of Mood
and Contemplation, held in the Vatican.
Fairies Tree
Ola Cohn
Red Gum carving, 1934
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, C3)
Born in Bendigo in 1892, Ola Cohn excelled in art from an early age. She
studied at Melbourne’s Swinburne Technical College before winning a
scholarship to study under acclaimed sculptor Henry Moore at London’s
Royal College of Art. Cohn exhibited widely in Britain and Europe before
returning to Australia, where she established a studio in Collins Street in
1931. Cohn’s talent and skills were recognised with an OBE, which was
awarded to her in 1965 for ‘services rendered in the service of art,
especially sculpture’.
In undertaking the Fairies Tree, Cohn was inspired by Ivor Innes’ Elfin
Oak, located in Kensington Gardens, London. Commencing work on the
Fairies Tree in 1931, Cohn spent three years carving the ancient Red Gum.
She suffered the discomfort of weather extremes, stings by mosquitos and
bees – which had made the old tree stump their home – and repeated acts of
vandalism on the work.
Cohn worked in a fittingly organic fashion, using the trunk’s natural
irregularities to inspire her myriad carvings of Australian and European
fairies, dwarfs, gnomes, imps, goblins, elves and animals. Upon completion
in May 1934, the tree was gifted to the city’s children. Cohn says she
carved the tree ‘mostly for fairies and for those who believe in them’.
In 1977, the trunk was extracted from the ground for chemical treatment
and for the removal of rotten wood. Following treatment, it was mounted
on a concrete base in an effort to preserve the work. It continues to get
regular conservation treatment.

Farnex Hercules
Artist unknown
Marble bust with granite pedestal, 1780
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H7)
This marble bust of Farnex Hercules is a replica of Farnese Hercules, held
by the Vatican Museum, Rome. Hercules is represented as the classical
powerful hero; half god and half human, he was the most famous hero of
ancient times and the most loved. He was born of an illicit affair between
Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene, and this union brought tremendous
hardship to Hercules at the hand of Hera, wife of Zeus and Queen of the
Gods. Hercules’ story is one of strength, courage and prodigious deeds.
Because he endured all hardships visited upon him, at his death he was
taken to Mt Olympus to live with the gods.
Farnex Hercules was donated to the city by well-known solicitor,
politician, newspaper proprietor and educationalist Theodore Fink. He
acquired the bust and a replica of the Belvedere Apollo as gifts to the people
of Melbourne, when visiting Rome; the works were unveiled in 1928.
Fink’s donation marked the end of a tradition of placing copies of classical
statuary in Melbourne’s public gardens, a tradition that took root in the
1860s. Most were removed by the 1930s.
The Genie
Sculptor Tom Bass; founder F.J. & I. Lemon
Bronze sculpture, 1973
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, J7)
Tom Bass was born in Lithgow, NSW, in 1916. After a hiatus in his studies
during World War Two, he graduated from the National Art School in
1948. Bass gained inspiration for his work from his extensive travels, which
is apparent in The Genie. One of Australia’s leading sculptors, Bass has
created some of the country’s most significant works, such as the entrance
sculpture at Canberra’s National Library, Trial of Socrates at the University
of Melbourne’s Wilson Hall and Ethos in Canberra’s Civic Square.
In 1971, sculptor Peter Corlett presented the concept of a children’s play
sculpture to Melbourne City Council. The commission for this sculpture
went to Bass. The Genie’s design is a synthesis of Western and Eastern art
forms, and combines the characteristics of an Egyptian cat with a lion. It
was designed to complement its natural surroundings, while still being able
to attract the attention of children. Its form and textured surface are
intended to encourage play and to extend children’s experience of art by
inviting direct physical contact. In part, its inscription reads: ‘The Genie / A
fantasy play sculpture / for children’.

Mary Gilbert Memorial
Ailsa O’Connor
Cement fondue bust, 1975
Conservatory, Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B3)
Ailsa O’Connor studied at RMIT and worked as a painter and then
draughtsperson before taking up sculpture full time in the 1970s.
Throughout her life, she was active in a number of organisations that sought
to achieve equality for women, such as the Women’s Progressive
Movement.
O’Connor’s interest in feminism and women’s history is apparent in this
work, which in part carries the inscription: ‘Mary gave birth to a son, the
first white child born in the Port Phillip settlement, on 29 December 1835.
As servants of John Pascoe Fawkner, Mary and her husband James Gilbert
were in the original party of settlers who landed from the schooner
Enterprise on 30 August 1835.’ O’Connor claimed of Mary Gilbert that she
was a ‘sort of proletarian founding mother’.
The bust was exhibited in 1975 and subsequently purchased by the City of
Melbourne. Lady Mayoress Barbara Walker unveiled it on 26 November
1975.
Miraggio (aka Seated Figure)
Pino Conte
Bronze statue, 1964
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain (Melway ref. 2F, K9)
Miraggio, a bronze statue of a slender young woman listening to music,
came into the city’s public art collection 1964. An anonymous ‘Lover of
Italy’ donated it to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl Trust and Melbourne City
Council. Following the re-landscaping of the site, Miraggio was reinstalled
in October 2001. To be faithful to the donor’s wishes and the apparent
intent behind the work, the figure is installed as if she were part of the
audience.
Nurse Edith Cavell Memorial
Margaret Baskerville
Marble bust with cast-bronze panels on granite pedestal, 1926
Kings Domain, Birdwood Ave (Melway ref. 2F, K11)
Born in Melbourne in 1861, Margaret Baskerville studied painting at
Melbourne’s National Gallery School and Victorian Academy, and later
undertook private lessons with Charles Douglas Richardson. In the early
1900s, she studied sculpture with Edouard Lanteri at the Royal College of
Art, London. On her return to Australia, she quickly became the country’s
most acclaimed woman sculptor, undertaking a number of important
commissions.
One such piece is her marble bust of the English nurse Edith Cavell. This
work commemorates a woman whose beneficence delivered her a tragic
end, which is depicted on the cast-bronze relief panels on the bust’s
pedestal.

Edith Cavell trained as nurse in the late 1890s. In 1907, she was posted in
Brussels to assist in establishing a modern nursing system at the Berkendael
Medical Institute. At the outbreak of World War One she was left in charge
of the hospital and what is now known as the Red Cross. During that time
she assisted more than 200 Belgian, British and French soldiers who had
been separated from their armies, or who had escaped German detention. In
1915, she was accused of conspiring to help prisoners escape, and was tried
by a military court in Brussels. She was convicted and sentenced to death,
along with four others. Cavell was executed by firing squad on 12 October
1915; she was still wearing her nurse’s uniform. Her last words feature on
one of the memorial’s plaques: ‘I know now that patriotism is not enough. I
must have no hatred and no bitterness towards anyone.’ Cavell’s body was
returned to England in 1919, where a full military service was conducted at
Westminster Abbey.
The appeal for funds for a Cavell memorial garnered such support in
Australia that much of the money was devoted to assisting incapacitated
war nurses. In 1916, the Edith Cavell Trust Fund was officially inaugurated
in Victoria; it lasted nearly 60 years, until 1974.
The Pathfinder (aka The Hammer Thrower)
John Edward Robinson
Bronze sculpture, 1974
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H8)
Artist John Robinson has a long history with Australia. Born in London in
1935, he came to Australia briefly during the war as a child evacuated to
escape the German bombing of London. He returned in 1952, living on the
land in South Australia, which is where he rediscovered his early talent for
sculpture. Returning to England in 1969, he devoted himself to sculpture
full time. Robinson’s reputation as a figurative sculptor grew quickly. In
1973, the City of London commissioned his Hammer Thrower. In 1974, he
began to focus on more symbolic forms. Robinson’s major commissions
include four sculptures for the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra,
Gymnast for the New Olympic Museum, Lausanne, and The Pathfinder and
Water Children, now with the City of Melbourne.
Mining giant Conzinc Riotinto (now known as Rio Tinto) commissioned
Robinson’s The Pathfinder, which they planned to install in their proposed
new building. When the building failed to go ahead, the ‘dynamic’
sculpture of the hammer thrower in action was placed on long-term loan
with the City of Melbourne, which sited the bronze in the Queen Victoria
Gardens. The hammer held by the figure has been stolen several times and
duly returned or replaced by another. Lord Mayor Councillor Whalley
unveiled The Pathfinder in April 1974.
Statue of Meditation
Robert Delandere
Marble statue, 1933
Conservatory, Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B3)
This statue once divided the critics. Brought to Australia by Madame
Gaston-Saint, an Australian who married a wealthy Frenchman, the statue’s
intended destination was the Victorian town of Rheole, where it would

memorialise her father. When this failed to transpire, it was erected in
Fitzroy Gardens. Just prior to its unveiling, acclaimed sculptor Paul
Montford complained in a letter to the mayor: ‘In my opinion its artistic
value is far below any other statuary in Fitzroy Gardens, and it is probably
the worst figure in any public place in Melbourne.’
Water Children
John Edward Robinson
Bronze sculpture, c. 1970
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H8)
John Edward Robinson was born in London in 1935, but has a long
association with Australia. He turned to sculpture while living in South
Australia during the 1950s and 1960s, modelling rough figures of his three
sons and the local children. But his reputation as a sculptor developed in the
early 1970s, after he and his family had returned to England. He has
undertaken many major commissions, including for the Australian Institute
of Sport, Canberra, and the New Olympic Museum, Lausanne.
Water Children comprises two small bronze figures – a girl and boy who
lean over a stream that meanders down to the lake. The girl is kneeling on
her hands and knees, the boy lying down, one foot in the air, one hand
scooping water. While this sculpture wasn’t commissioned for the site, it
demonstrates a shift towards more realist statuary that engages with its
environment. Like The Pathfinder, this sculpture was in fact commissioned
by Conzinc Riotinto (now known as Rio Tinto). It was purchased by the
City of Melbourne in 1973 as a part of its re-landscaping of the gardens.
The Water Nymph
Paul Montford
Bronze sculpture, 1925
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H8)
In 1925, Melbourne City Council’s Parks & Gardens Committee allocated
funds towards purchasing statues for its public gardens. This was an
attempt to appease a dissatisfied and vocal public, which had criticised
council for the poor state of the pieces located in Fitzroy Gardens.
Paul Montford’s Water Nymph is one of the works purchased. It is a bronze
statue of a young woman, with raised arms stroking her hair. She kneels on
a round base, which is set in an ornamental lake. This is a classic image of
the period. The nymph is linked to age-old representations of the mermaid
and the siren, which symbolise female sexuality. It is perhaps of no surprise
to find a sculpture of a nymph at a time when the rise of the ‘flapper’
signalled a loosening of sexual mores. Water Nymph was unveiled in
September 1925.

Statues
Adam Lindsay Gordon Memorial
Paul Montford
Bronze statue on sandstone pedestal, 1931
Gordon Reserve, cnr Spring & Macarthur Sts (Melway ref. 2F, K3)
Born in London in 1868, Paul Montford was the son of renowned sculptor
Horace Montford. He showed a gift for painting from an early age, and at
19 entered London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. It was here that
Montford’s interest in modelling and sculpture developed. He created
several sculptures in Melbourne, including The Court Favorite, Peter Pan
and The Water Nymph.
Montford came to Australia in 1921, and undertook this sculpture of the
seated poet and horseman Adam Lindsay Gordon a decade later. A
significant 19th-century Australian poet, Gordon is depicted with a book in
one hand and a pencil in the other, and with his saddle under his chair. He
sits on a sandstone pedestal heavily inscribed on each side. Its north face
reads: ‘Of the works of His hand by sea or by land, the horse may at least
rank second’; its east face reads: ‘He sang the first great songs these lands
can claim to be their own’.
Gordon was born in 1833 in the Azores, Portugal, where his maternal
grandfather owned a plantation. A wild and impetuous youth, he was sent
to South Australia by his family shortly after completing his education in
England. Soon after his arrival in 1853 he became a constable in the
mounted police, before trying his hand, unsuccessfully, at both politics and
running sheep. In much debt, Gordon committed suicide in 1879.
In 1911, a public meeting was held to consider erecting a memorial to
Gordon. The first subscription predated this meeting, with the Earl of
Dudley donating £60 in 1910. A second meeting, held in 1912, was not
well attended and the fund was still £1000 short. It was another two
decades before the memorial was finally erected. Montford was awarded
the gold medal of the Royal Society of British Sculptors for this work.
Burke and Wills Monument
Charles Summers
Bronze statue with granite pedestal, 1865
Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts (Melway ref. 2F, F4)
Charles Summers was born in England in 1825. After gaining his early
training with his stonemason father, he studied at London’s Royal
Academy. Summers arrived in Australia in 1852, setting up his Melbourne
studio three years later. He undertook many significant commissions
around fledgling Melbourne, and designed one of the earliest sculptures
erected in Fitzroy Gardens, River God Fountain.
The ill-fated journey of Burke and Wills is one of the most recited episodes
in Australian history, and one that Summers would have a role in
memorialising. Burke and Wills’ journey began amid glorious public

sentiment of hope and pride as their team set off for the Gulf of
Carpentaria. Among other things, the publicly funded expedition would
help solve the puzzle of what lay in Australia’s interior, and at a time of
interstate rivalry it would bring triumph to Victoria. But the expedition
ended as a sorry tale of rash decision-making and unfortunate timing, and
ultimately with the deaths of Burke, Wills and Gray.
On 2 November 1861, news of the death of Burke and Wills reached
Melbourne, and within days grief swept the city; more than 40,000 people
are said to have paid their last respects to the fallen heroes. The Victorian
government announced a memorial would be erected and Charles Summers
submitted the winning design. Burke stands to the left of the seated Wills,
his forearm resting on his companion’s shoulder. A book lays open book in
Wills’ lap. Mounted atop granite blocks, the statue also features bronze basrelief
plaques depicting events during the expedition. It was unveiled on 21
April 1865 – the fourth anniversary of Burke and Wills’ return to Coopers
Creek.
The monument, too, has had something of a journey, having been relocated
several times. In 1993, it underwent two months’ restoration before being
relocated in its fifth and current site. Some critics derided the work as
‘grotesque’, pointing particularly to the elongated necks of the subjects.
Captain Cook
Marc Clark
Bronze statue, 1973
Cook’s Cottage, Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B4)
Marc Clark was born in London in 1923 and came to Australia in 1962. For
the decade to 1973 he was the drawing and sculpture master at Melbourne’s
National Gallery Art School, at which time his own practice shifted from
figurative painting to sculpture.
In 1973, he was commissioned to create this life-size bronze statue of
Captain James Cook for the opening of the Endeavour Hills housing estate.
It was later donated to the City of Melbourne for display near Cook’s
Cottage, in Fitzroy Gardens. It was installed in July 1997.
Captain Matthew Flinders Statue
Sculptor Charles Web Gilbert; founder F. Barbedienne
Bronze statue with granite plinth, 1923
St Paul’s Cathedral, Swanston St (Melway ref. 2F, G5)
Charles Web Gilbert was born in 1867 near Cockatoo, in Victoria. At a
young age he became a pastry cook, modelling cake decorations. He later
studied at the National Gallery Art School, but had no formal training in
sculpture. Gilbert travelled to England at the outbreak of World War One,
and shortly after to France, where he made battlefield models for the
Australian Imperial Force. Returning to Australia, he worked for the
Australian War Memorial, and later undertook many commemorative
commissions. The Flinders monument is Gilbert’s best known work and has
been particularly admired for the use of the boat as the statue’s base.

Flinders gained acclaim for establishing the strait between mainland
Australia and Tasmania in 1798. Over 1801–03, he mapped the coast of
Australia, completed against great odds, and was the first cartographer to
use ‘Australia’ on maps, rather than ‘New Holland’. On the Flinders’ Statue
Fund collecting card, Professor Ernest Scott wrote: ‘amongst the seamen
who habitually traverse these coasts, no name, not even that of Cook, is so
deeply esteemed as his’.
Edmund Fitzgibbon Memorial
James White
Bronze statue with Harcourt granite pedestal, 1908
Cnr St Kilda Rd & Linlithgow Ave (Melway ref. 2F, H9)
James White trained as a sculptor in London before arriving in Sydney in
1884. In the early 1900s he was much in demand as a portraitist and bronze
caster. His statue of Edmund Fitzgibbon depicts his subject in a barrister’s
gown and wig, in reference to his admission to the bar in 1860, which
followed several years of study while maintaining his duties as town clerk.
Edmund Fitzgibbon was born in Ireland and worked as a clerk in London
before immigrating to Australia in 1852. Four years later, he became
Melbourne’s town clerk. Fitzgibbon secured several parks and gardens for
the city and was instrumental in introducing tram tracks. In 1891, he
became the first chair of the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works.
This memorial was funded by public subscription and unveiled in 1908. It
originally stood at the southern end of Princes Bridge, but was relocated in
1971 due to construction of the underpass. In 1983, it was relocated to
Spring Street, before five years later being placed in storage. In 2003, it was
sited in its current position, chosen for its proximity to the original site.
General Charles Gordon Memorial
Sculptor Hamo Thornycroft; founder J. Moore
Limestone, Harcourt granite and bronze memorial, 1887
Gordon Reserve, cnr Spring & Macarthur Sts (Melway ref. 2F, K3)
Born in London in 1850, Hamo Thornycroft came from a long line of
sculptors. He was known for his imaginative and graceful designs and his
considerable technical skill. He received many public commissions.
This bronze statue depicts General Charles George Gordon holding his cane
and Bible. In heroic style, the general stands over a shattered cannon,
presumably to symbolise his ultimate triumph over the trials and
tribulations of military victory and defeat. Four bronze bas-reliefs feature
on the limestone base, each depicting one of four key stages in Gordon’s
life: his victories in China, his charitable activities in Gravesend, his
governorship in Sudan and his death in Khartoum. In part, the inscription
reads: ‘I have tried to do my duty / This is the happy warrior – this is he
that every man in arms should wish to be’.

Gordon, the ‘Great Christian General’, was one of the most popular
Englishmen of his day, and his reputation was forged on the battlefield and
through his Christian activities at Gravesend. During his appointment as
secretary to the viceroy of India in 1880, Gordon became unpopular with
the government of the day for passionately campaigning for native rule in
countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Ireland. Gordon met his
death 1885, when as governor-general of the Sudan he refused to evacuate
Egyptian forces from Khartoum, believing this to be unsafe.
Gordon’s death was mourned throughout the British Empire. So great was
the Australian public’s response that a fund to produce a copy of
Thornycroft’s London monument for Melbourne was heavily
oversubscribed. Perhaps due to oversubscription, Thornycroft produced the
four reliefs for the limestone base, which are not found on the London
statue. Although Gordon did not set foot on Australian soil, the monument
is of great historical importance; his death prompted the dispatch of the first
Australian troops overseas, a regiment from NSW.
John Batman Memorial
Stanley Hammond
Bronze statue, 1978
National Mutual Plaza, Collins St (Melway ref. 1A, F8)
Stanley Hammond was born at Trentham, Victoria, in 1913. He trained in
Daylesford and Melbourne before assisting Orlando Dutton with works for
the Shrine of Remembrance and Paul Montford with the Macpherson
Robertson Fountain and other sculptures. He also worked on Melbourne’s
South African War Memorial.
Hammond’s statue of John Batman depicts him not so much as the revered
founding father but as a man of the land. Clothed in the garb of an explorer,
he stands with one foot resting on a saddle roll and his head bent as he
marks his map. The plaque bears the oft-repeated line from Batman’s
journal: ‘This is the place for a village’.
In 1977, the City of Melbourne commissioned the statue on the
recommendation of its Parks & Gardens Committee. It was unveiled in
June 1978. National Mutual purchased the land on which the statue stands
in 1993, and ownership of the statue was transferred with it.
John Pascoe Fawkner Memorial
Michael Meszaros
Bronze statue, 1978
National Mutual Plaza, Collins St (Melway ref. 1A, F8)
Michael Meszaros studied architecture at the University of Melbourne
before working with his father, Andor, as a sculptor. Like his father, he is
known for his commemorative medals. His statue of Fawkner depicts a man
close to the earth – a planter of crops and a builder. Next to Fawkner is
John Batman, a co-founder of Melbourne. Unlike Batman, however,
Fawkner lived long enough to exert an influence on Melbourne’s early
development.

Meszaros’s statue was unveiled in 1979. In 1993, National Mutual
purchased the land on which the statue is sited, and its ownership was
transferred.
Man with the Donkey (aka Private John Simpson and His
Little Donkey)
Wallace Anderson
Cast bronze statue on granite pedestal, 1935
West forecourt, Shrine of Remembrance (Melway ref. 2F, K12)
Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick’s intrepid and short-lived exploits during
the Gallipoli campaign have made him a popular figure of World War One.
He has been mythologised to represent the lauded values of the digger, and
he symbolises all those who went into battle unarmed. Born in England in
1892, he came to Australia in 1910. He enlisted to make his way back to
England, but as a member of the 3rd Field Ambulance AIA was sent to
Gallipoli. After just three weeks of bearing wounded soldiers across
Shrapnel Gully on the back of his donkey, Simpson was killed by shrapnel
fire.
Simpson’s story became a powerful propaganda tool for enlistment in
Australia, but following the war he was quickly forgotten. With the Shrine
of Remembrance nearing completion in 1933, the memory of Simpson was
rekindled to commemorate all who gave their lives to help others during the
war. One plaque reads: ‘The / Man with his donkey / Gallipoli … / In
commemoration / of the valour and compassion / of the Australian soldier’.
In 1935, Wallace Anderson’s design for the memorial was selected though
a competition organised by the Australian Red Cross. Anderson had served
during the war and worked at the Australian War Memorial after his return.
His Man with the Donkey was cast in Italy, and after some debate was sited
near the shrine.
Marquis of Linlithgow
William Birnie Rhind
Bronze statue with granite pedestal, 1911
Cnr St Kilda Rd & Government House Dr (Melway ref. 2F, J10)
John Adrian Lewis Hope, the Earl of Hopetoun, arrived in Australia to
serve as the governor of Victoria from 1889 to 1895. During these years he
travelled widely, investigating social conditions and alleviating hardship
where he could. He returned to England in 1895, with a reputation for being
one of the most conscientious governors in Australia. He returned to
Australia in 1901 to become the new federation’s first governor-general,
but his popularity quickly waned, in part because his expenses were
perceived as exorbitant. He resigned from his position a year later and
returned to his native Scotland, where he died in 1905. In 1902, the Earl of
Hopetoun was made Marquis of Linlithgow.
A handful of anonymous tenders for a commemorative statue to Hope were
considered before William Birnie Rhind’s design was selected. Lady

Linlithgow had requested that her late husband be represented on horseback
to show his admiration for these noble beasts. Rhind’s moulds were made
in Scotland and the bronze was cast in Naples. Governor-General Sir John
Fuller and acting Prime Minister William Hughes unveiled the statue in
June 1911.
Pastor Sir Doug and Lady Gladys Nicholls Memorial (aka
Dungala Wamayirr)
Louis Laumen
Bronze memorial statue, 2007
Parliament Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, K1)
Sir Doug Nicholls was the pastor of Australia’s first Aboriginal Church of
Christ, in Fitzroy, Melbourne, and in 1957 became a field officer for the
Aboriginal Advancement League. His commitment to Indigenous welfare
made him a natural representative for Aboriginal people, and he was
awarded a MBE for his efforts in 1957. He worked as a lay preacher at the
Gore Street Mission Centre from 1935, but he really began working with
disadvantaged Aboriginal people in the early 1940s through the Aboriginal
Advancement League. In 1968, he was awarded an OBE for his work and
became a member of the new Victorian Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. In
1972, he was the first Aboriginal person to be knighted, and four years later
he became the governor of South Australia.
Like her husband, Gladys Nicholls was born at Cummeragunga Aboriginal
station in NSW. After the death of her first husband, Howard Nicholls, in
1942, Gladys married his brother Doug. She was committed to working
towards the welfare of the underprivileged, as well as for the rights of
women. Gladys was a charity worker and fundraiser, and among other
achievements became secretary of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Women’s Council and the Victorian state president in the 1970s.
Together the Nicholls were prominent campaigners for Indigenous rights
and justice, and this memorial statue, first proposed by the Department of
Justice and keenly supported by the Nicholls’ family, recognises this. It is
the first memorial sculpture in Melbourne dedicated to Aboriginal leaders,
and its presence strengthens the visibility of Indigenous people and cultural
diversity in Melbourne.
Sculptor Louis Laumen’s intention with these life-size bronze figures was
to create a literal representation of his subjects’ place in public life,
acknowledging them as great catalysts for social change. Sir Doug steps
forward in conversation and Lady Gladys stands with him. In the bluestone
paving below, Ngarra Murray’s etching incorporates the totems
Bigarrumdja the Emu and Waa the Crow with diamond-shaped markings.
These traditional symbols mark her great-grandparents’ connection to
country. The position of the statue is significant, located between the two
key locales of Sir Doug work, Fitzroy and state parliament.

Peter Pan
Paul Montford
Bronze statue, 1925
Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, Parkville (Melway ref. 29, E11)
This statue was commissioned by Alderman Charles Jeffries in 1926 to
commemorate his 31 years as councillor for the City of Melbourne. Chair
of the Parks & Gardens Committee for many years, Alderman Jeffries
wanted a sculpture placed in the Alexandra Gardens that would have
particular appeal to children. Renowned sculptor Paul Montford created an
‘Australian’ version of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan to meet this brief. A bush
bird sits on the young boy’s shoulder and native animals are at his feet.
Lord Mayor Morrell unveiled the statue in 1926. It was moved some time
later to the conservatory in the Fitzroy Gardens, where the climatic
conditions were less than ideal. In 1989, it was placed in storage to await
both conservation and a decision on its new home. Jeff Gill, the Alderman’s
grandson, was instrumental in having the statue returned to a public site.
Since 1993 it has been located at Melbourne’s zoo, where, just as Alderman
Jeffries envisaged, it enjoys the attention of children.
The Phoenix
Yrsa Von Leister
Bronze and sheet copper statue, 1973
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H8)
Baroness Yrsa Von Leister’s winged figure reaches some three metres
above the waters of a pond in Queen Victoria Gardens. Originally
associated with ancient Egyptians’ longings for immortality, the phoenix in
Christianity has long been linked to resurrection and everlasting life. Von
Leister sculpted the symbolic figure for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of
Melbourne following the 40th International Eucharistic Congress, held here
in 1973. Archbishop Cardinal Knox then donated the work to the
Melbourne City Council for the support it had shown during the congress.
Von Leister flew to Australia to complete finishing touches to the roughhewn
sculpture prior to its unveiling. In March 1976, the Most Reverend
T.F. Little gifted the sculpture to the citizens of Melbourne on behalf of the
Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission. He said, ‘The … phoenix is
accepted throughout the world as symbolising everlasting life. It glorifies
Him who is truth and eternal life.’ The statue’s plaque reads: ‘The Phoenix
/ sculpted By Yrsa Von Leister / A gift to the City of Melbourne / from the
40th International Eucharist Congress / Melbourne – February 1973’.
Robert Burns Memorial
George Anderson Lawson
Bronze statue and plinth with granite pedestal, 1903
Treasury Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, K4)
Born in Edinburgh in 1832, artist George Anderson Lawson trained at the
Royal Scottish Academy and in Rome before settling in Liverpool. His best
known work is a statue of the famed Scottish poet Robert Burns, which

stands at Ayr, in Scotland. A replica of this statue was cast in London for
the city of Melbourne, and was erected in 1904 under the auspices of the
Caledonian Society. Lawson’s Burns is an imposing, larger than life-size
figure depicted in tails and breeches, his posture and countenance
suggesting a powerful spirit.
Born in 1759 in the tiny village of Alloway, near Ayr, Robert Burns is one
of the most celebrated figures in Scottish history. His work is of great
literary importance and he is notable for his influence on the poetry and
culture of Scotland. The son of a peasant farmer, Burns grew up in abject
poverty. Yet recognising the value of education, his father contracted local
teacher John Murdoch to tutor his son. From an early age it was apparent
that Burns was a gifted scholar. His first published book, Poems, Chiefly in
Scottish Dialect (1786), immediately captured the hearts of the Scottish
public, and was considered one of the greatest collections of poetry ever
written. Burns became prolific, publishing many poems – among them his
famous ‘Auld Lang Syne’. He died in extreme poverty of rheumatic fever
in 1796 at the age of 37.
Lawson’s sculpture of Burns cost around £1000, and it is said that nearly
every Scot in Melbourne contributed. The memorial symbolises the
contribution Scottish migrants made to the early development of Victoria,
with many of the first graziers and squatters in Gippsland and the Western
District being of Scottish descent. The memorial remains a uniting symbol
for Melbourne’s Scottish community. It was originally located on the west
side of St Kilda Road, where Sir John Madden, the lieutenant governor,
unveiled it on 23 January 1904. It was moved to its current site in 1970, due
to changes along St Kilda Road.
Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop
Peter Corlett
Bronze statue with granite pedestal, 1995
Kings Domain (Melway ref. 2F, J10)
Born in Melbourne in 1944, Peter Corlett studied sculpture at RMIT. He
has created several commemorative sculptures, including the Australian
War Memorial’s Simpson and His Donkey. Winning the commission for a
memorial to Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, Corlett produced a work that not
only commemorated this extraordinary man but paid homage to all medical
staff serving prisoners of war in Asia–Pacific during World War Two. The
sculpture includes metal spikes that were used in the Burma–Thailand
railway.
Weary Dunlop trained in Melbourne as a pharmacist before he turned to
medicine. He then undertook surgical training in London, where he
remained until the outbreak of World War Two. Dunlop joined the Medical
Corps of the Australian Army. A surgeon of considerable skill, he served in
a senior position in the Middle East and was then transferred to Java. In
1942, his company was captured by Japanese troops and imprisoned first in
Singapore and then in Changi, Thailand. His company was sent to work on
the Thai segment of the infamous Burma–Thailand railway. A natural
organiser and leader, Dunlop led the first Australian prisoners of war who
were to work on the line. He was a courageous leader and compassionate

doctor, and restored morale in those terrible prison camps and jungle
hospitals. He defied his captors, gave hope to the sick and eased the anguish
of the dying.
After 1945 and with the war behind him, Dunlop turned his energies to
healing and to building bridges; he worked towards the health and welfare
of former prisoners of war and their families, and towards promoting better
relations between Australia and Asia. Following Dunlop’s death in 1993,
funds were raised through the Weary Dunlop Statue Appeal. The then
Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett, unveiled Peter Corlett’s memorial to
Weary Dunlop on 15 August 1995.
Sir John Monash
William Leslie Bowles
Bronze statue on granite plinth, 1950
Kings Domain, cnr Government House Dr & Birdwood Ave (Melway ref.
2F, J10)
William Leslie Bowles was born in 1885 in Leichhardt, NSW. He studied
sculpture in Brisbane and then in London before joining the Australian War
Memorial in 1924. Bowles then undertook many public commissions.
John Monash was born in Melbourne in 1865. He obtained degrees in arts,
law and engineering from the University of Melbourne, and worked on
construction projects before the outbreak of World War One. Monash
commanded the 4th Infantry Brigade at Gallipoli and then the 3rd Division
in Armentières, France. In recognition of his military prowess and
leadership skills, he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1918,
commanding the Australian Army Corps. Following the war, Monash
became general manager of the State Electricity Commission, and was
instrumental in developing the brown-coal deposits of the Yallourn fields,
Gippsland. He also served as the vice-chancellor of the University of
Melbourne.
A monument to Monash was proposed in 1932, the year after his death. It
was funded by Melbourne City Council and public subscription. While
designed by Bowles, the bronze was cast in Italy. But due to the outbreak of
World War Two it was not completed until 1950.
Sir Thomas Blamey Memorial
Raymond B. Ewers
Bronze statue with granite pedestal, 1960
Kings Domain, cnr Government House Dr & Birdwood Ave (Melway ref.
2F, J10)
Born in Wyalong, NSW, Raymond Ewers studied sculpture at Melbourne’s
RMIT. He then became assistant to William Leslie Bowles, working on the
King George V and Sir John Monash Memorials. Ewers is well known for
his work on the John F. Kennedy Memorial.
Sir Thomas Blamey was born near Wagga in 1884 and was the first
Australian to become field marshal. He was a controversial man, who

commanded much respect for his actions on the battlefield and for his
willingness to challenge British and US generals, but his skills did not
translate well to the civilian arena. As police commissioner of Victoria
between 1925 and 1936, he was harsh in his treatment of Labor activists
and the unemployed, and he resigned amid scandal when he was linked to
wounding the superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Still,
Blamey was knighted in 1935 and promoted to field marshal in 1950, the
year before he died.
A memorial to Blamey was announced in 1958, although its site opposite
the memorial to Sir John Monash had been reserved since 1952. There was
some dispute over just what vehicle Blamey would be mounted on, with
both tradition and Blamey’s wife demanding a horse. Ewers won this battle
and mounted his subject on a military Jeep. Sited opposite Monash,
depicted on horseback and with whom Blamey had served in World War
One, Ewers’ statue captures the transformation of the technologies of war
through this symbol of its mechanisation. In familiar military style, the
plaque is a roll call of Blamey’s military positions.
Ewers’ sculpture is one of the few pieces of traditional memorial statuary
created after the 1950s. It represents a change in memorial tradition and,
importantly, a decline in monumental figurative sculpture.
Sir William John Clarke
Edgar Bertram Mackennal
Marble statue, 1902
Treasury Gardens (Melway ref. 1B, V8)
Born in Fitzroy in 1863, Edgar Bertram Mackennal studied art in
Melbourne before travelling to Europe and settling in Shropshire. He was
commissioned to create several statues around Melbourne, including those
of Sir William John Clarke and King Edward VII. Mackennal’s bust of
Clarke rests on a marble pedestal. Below the bust a woman is depicted
offering a wreath (representing the State of Victoria) and a young man is
depicted holding a scroll (representing education).
William John Clarke was born in Tasmania in 1831 and moved to Victoria
in 1860. A philanthropist and wealthy pastoralist, he gave generously to the
building funds for St Paul’s Cathedral and Trinity College, and supported
several other causes. He was actively involved in many areas of public life
and was the first Australian to be made baronet. He died in 1897, stepping
from a tramcar in Collins Street.
Following Clarke’s death, a public meeting was held to determine how best
to memorialise him. The monument, it was thought, must be ‘of heroic size’
and yet in keeping with Clarke’s modesty. Mackennal sculpted the marble
in London in consultation with Clarke’s son-in-law and with the final
approval of Lady Janet Clarke.

Monuments & Architectural Works
Australian Hellenic War Memorial
Evangelos Sakaris; RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants
Granite and basalt memorial, 2001
Kings Domain, Birdwood Ave, near Government House Dr (Melway ref.
2F, J11)
The Australian Hellenic Memorial Foundation was established in 1996 to
raise funds for a memorial in Kings Domain. The memorial honours the
Australian and Hellenic men and women who served in Greece and in the
battle of Crete during World War II, and those who lost their lives in these
campaigns. Joining the allied forces on mainland Greece in 1941, the
Australian Division was greatly outnumbered by enemy forces and largely
fought a battle of withdrawal. Many were evacuated to Crete with British,
New Zealand and Greek soldiers, but here they were defeated in an ill-fated
campaign.
As well as honouring the servicemen and women, the monument has been
designed to embody the ideals of democracy, liberty and peace – ideals
articulated and embraced by the United Nations at its establishment
following World War II. Representing an eternal image of Australia and
Greece, the memorial is intended to have relevance to current and future
generations. Situated north-east of the Shrine of Remembrance, the
memorial comprises 12 three-metre-high granite columns; these create a
rectangular space laid with basalt pavers with polished curved lines. This
area houses a cast-bronze urn and a limestone and oikos on a bluestone
base. In classical Greek tradition, the design is open, ordered and
symmetrical, its form conveying a sense of contemplative calm. The Hon.
Bruce Scott, Minister for Veteran Affairs, and Major General Christos
Tzaferos of the Hellenic Armed Forces unveiled the memorial on 2
September 2001.
Bandstand
George Dodd
Concrete bandstand, 1864
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, C2)
George Dodd designed and constructed this elegant, Corinthian-style
bandstand in 1864. Its sides are enclosed with low cast-iron fencing and its
roof is tiled. Standing stately atop the rise on the eastern side of the Fitzroy
Gardens, it affords views back over the historical gardens to the bustling
city centre.
Burke and Wills Cairn
Stone cairn, 1890
Royal Park, cnr The Avenue & Macarthur Rd (Melway ref. 2B, B2)
On 20 August 1860, some 15,000 Melburnians gathered at Royal Park to
farewell the 18 members of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, led by

Robert O’Hara Burke. This stone cairn marks the expedition’s departure
point. The plaque reads: ‘This memorial has been erected / to mark the spot
from whence the / Burke and Wills / Expedition started on the 20th August
1860 / After successfully accomplishing their mission / the two brave
leaders perished on their return / journey at Coopers Creek in June 1861.’
Soon after the tragedy, a fence was placed around a tree near their departure
point. In 1890, the fence was removed and this cairn was erected about 180
metres east of the tree.
Chinese Lion Guardians
Marble lions, date unknown
Cohen Pl, Chinatown (Melway ref. 1B, S3)
In Cohen Place, just off the main artery of Chinatown, two marble lions
stand sentry at the door to the Chinese Museum. They were a gift from the
city of Tianjin, in recognition of Melbourne as its sister city.
Often called Fu Lions (Lions of Buddha or Rui Shi), guardian lions first
appeared during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), after early travelers
first saw them at Buddhist temples in India. The lions were thought to have
mythic power and were stationed at temple doors to protect the dharma. In
China they were traditionally placed at the gates to imperial palaces and
tombs, temples and government offices to ward off evil and misfortune, but
over the centuries they’ve shifted into the more popular realm, now even
featuring outside supermarkets. They most commonly appear in pairs, the
male lion playing with a ball (representing the world) and positioned to the
right of the doorway, and the female, depicted with a cub (representing the
family), positioned to the left.
Edward George Honey Memorial
Stone boulder with bronze and aluminium plaque, 1965
Kings Domain, Birdwood Ave (Melway ref. 2F, K12)
It is to Edward George Honey that we owe the ritual of observing two
minutes’ silence in commemoration of the war fallen. The plaque of this
simple memorial reads: ‘In memory of / Edward George Honey / 1885–
1922 / a Melbourne journalist who, while living in London, / first suggested
the solemn ceremony of / silence / now observed in all British countries / in
remembrance of those who died in war. / “Lest We Forget”’ It was unveiled
in May 1965. Fittingly, the memorial is located opposite the Shrine of
Remembrance.
Eight Hour Day Memorial
Percival Ball (?)
Granite, bronze and gold-leaf monument with stone pedestal, 1900–03
Cnr Russell & Victoria Sts (Melway ref. 2B, F12)
Born in London, Percival Ball studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, where
he exhibited frequently. He lived in Europe before coming to Australia in
1884, establishing a studio in Collins Street. Ball produced several works in

Melbourne, namely the Francis Ormond and Sir Redmond Barry statues, as
well the statue of Sir William Blake in Ballarat. We suspect, but are not
certain, Ball created the Eight Hour Day Memorial.
This publicly funded monument was designed to commemorate the eighthour
working day, introduced on 21 April 1856. In February 1856,
stonemasons working at the University of Melbourne marched on
Parliament House, pressing claims for a regulated eight-hour working day.
The skilled workers were in a good position to have their claims met;
Melbourne was experiencing a building boom and some of the city’s great
public buildings, such as the Public Library (now known as the State
Library of Victoria), were under construction. After weeks of protest, the
workers became the first in the world to achieve a 48-hour working week.
The ‘888’ on the top of obelisk refers to the workers’ popular slogan: eight
hours’ work, eight hours’ rest and eight hours’ recreation. Around the
monument’s globe the inscription reads: ‘Labour, Recreation, Peace’.
While the eight-hour day was an important achievement for the building
workers, conditions for women and child labourers in particular remained
unchanged and unreasonable for decades.
The monument was unveiled in 1903 and 14 surviving pioneers of the
eight-hour-day movement attended the ceremony. Mr Ward, MLA, claimed
in his keynote address that the ‘pioneers had led the way, not only for
Victoria, but for the rest of the world’.
Originally located in Gordon Reserve, Spring Street, the monument was
moved to the corner of Russell and Victoria Streets in 1923. Its site near
Parliament House was perhaps a spur to reform, although the present site
opposite Trades Hall is wholly appropriate. Its presence near Parliament
House was said to offend the conservative members, hence its relocation.
Horse Hitching Post
Stone post, c. 1900
Treasury Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, K4)
Opposite Flinders Lane in Treasury Gardens there is an octagonal stone
mounted on an octagonal base, on top of which is a metal ring. This is the
hitching post that was originally installed outside No. 85 Spring Street. It is
typical of the hitching posts found on Melbourne’s streets prior to 1900. It
was moved to its present site in 1971. If it seems an oddity today, one has
to remember that by the middle decades of the 20th century there was great
nostalgia for the days of the horse.
James C. Roberts Memorial
Granite obelisk, date unknown
Cnr Macarthur Ave & The Avenue, Parkville (Melway ref. 2B, B2)
This austere granite obelisk was erected in memory of Lieutenant James C.
Roberts, who died in the Boer War, fought between 1899 and 1902. As a
child he played in Royal Park, where the memorial is located.

Janet Lady Clarke Memorial
Herbert Black
Concrete and stamped copper rotunda, 1913
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, J8)
In 1873, Janet Snodgrass married wealthy pastoralist William Clarke, who
was made Australia’s first baronet in 1882. The Clarkes were generous
philanthropists, with sympathy for a great many causes. Their wealth and
social standing made them influential, and they used this to their advantage
to raise awareness of and funds for various local causes.
Lady Clarke sat on many committees, including the Women’s National
League, Women’s Hospital Committee and the Talbot Colony for
Epileptics. She was particularly active in supporting education. While Lady
Clarke became the inaugural president of the National Council of Women
of Victoria in 1902 and of the Australian Women’s National League in
1904, she was not a supporter women’s suffrage.
Lady Clarke died in 1909, and upon her death a memorial fund was
established. Herbert Black’s design for a Grecian-style, white marble
rotunda won the public competition. It can accommodate 100 musicians
and offers a quiet place to contemplate the view across Queen Victoria
Gardens. In part, the inscription on the rotunda reads: ‘A tribute to the
memory of a high example / of beneficence and public spirit’.
John Batman Memorial (1)
J.W. Brown
Bluestone cairn, date unknown
Queen Victoria Market (Melway ref. 2F, C11)
John Batman is best known as a founding father of Melbourne. A
prosperous Tasmanian farmer, he looked to Victoria to increase his grazing
lands. In 1835, Batman made his controversial ‘treaty’ with Wurundjeri
elders and returned to Launceston to make arrangements for the new
settlement. On returning to Victoria some months later, he found John
Pascoe Fawkner had already settled the site of Melbourne. With his health
declining, he settled on Batman’s Hill, near the present site of the Southern
Cross Railway Station. He died of syphilis just four years later in 1839.
Batman was buried in the old Melbourne cemetery (since 1922 the Queen
Victorian Market), but no headstone marked his grave. When interest in
Batman arose 40 years later it was near impossible to establish his burial
place. Once found, a bluestone monument was erected in his memory. In
1922, the cemetery was de-registered and the monument moved to the north
bank of the Yarra at Swan Street Bridge. Batman’s remains were exhumed
and re-interred in the Fawkner Cemetery, named, ironically, in honour his
archrival. The monument was later returned to its original site.

John F. Kennedy Memorial
Raymond B. Ewers
Bronze bas-relief head set in granite boulder on landscaped site, 1965
Treasury Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, A3)
Raymond B. Ewers was born in 1917 in Wyalong, NSW. He was educated
in Victoria before assisting William Leslie Bowles on Melbourne’s King
George V and Sir John Monash Memorials. An official war artist, Ewers
produced many fine memorials in the wake of the war, including the
Drouin War Memorial, the Kakoda Memorial in Papua New Guinea and
the Sir Thomas Blamey Memorial in Melbourne.
Following the 1963 slaying of John F. Kennedy, Ewers was commissioned
to cast a bronze portrait of the former US president. This was set in a
granite boulder and sited in the tranquil Japanese Gardens within Treasury
Gardens. The superintendent of Parks & Gardens and the city architect
were responsible for site design and installation, which included
remodelling the ornamental lake and building a bridge to the island where
the monument would form the centrepiece. A paved area and a bronze
flagpole were added, with the intention of reflecting Kennedy’s final resting
place at Arlington.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was something of a new breed of US politician.
Born to a wealthy family with political pedigree, he was the youngest man
ever elected president, and he brought vibrancy to government that gave
hope to many Americans. Kennedy was sworn in as president in January
1961, calling his campaign ‘The New Frontier’. Besides averting a nuclear
war with the Soviets over the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, his administration
spearheaded many progressive causes. While riding in an open-top
limousine through the streets of Dallas, Texas, Kennedy was shot and killed
by Lee Harvey Oswald on 22 November 1963.
This memorial is particularly significant for being a rare monument to an
American. Memorials to prominent British figures attest to Australia’s links
with the British Empire, but ours is not a society to commemorate with
such solemnity its alliances with the US. One of the memorial’s plaques
reads: ‘This memorial signifies the grateful recognition / by the citizens of
this city for the service / given by John F. Kennedy / as President of the
United States of America / 1961–1963’.
King Edward VII Memorial
Sculptor Edgar Bertram Mackennal; founder A.B. Burton
Bronze statue with basalt and granite pedestal, 1920
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H8)
Sculptor Edgar Bertram Mackennal was much in demand in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. His commissions include Melbourne’s statue of
Sir William Clarke and the medal for the London Olympics. He was
knighted in 1921 and elected to the Royal Academy in 1922.

Mackennal’s statue of Edward VII depicts a heroic king in the full dress
uniform of a British field marshal. The eldest son of Queen Victoria,
Edward was rebellious into his adulthood and the Queen showed her
displeasure by denying him any governmental position. Despite his lack of
experience, Edward successfully negotiated England’s conciliation with
France, earning him the title of ‘the peacemaker’, and his social reforms
made him popular among his subjects.
The desire to create a monument to Edward in Melbourne took hold
immediately following his death in 1910. Mackennal was commissioned to
undertake the work on a tender of £1867, but the statue eventually cost
three times that price. The outbreak of World War One delayed the statue’s
production, but casting in London commenced at the war’s end. It was
unveiled in 1920.
King George V
Sculptor William Leslie Bowles; founder John Galizia; stonemason G.B.
Edwards & Sons
Bronze, sandstone and granite sculpture with bluestone base, 1952
Kings Domain, near Sidney Myer Music Bowl (Melway ref. 2F, J9)
William Leslie Bowles was born in 1885 in Leichhardt, NSW. He travelled
to London on a McConnell scholarship, where he studied at the South
London School of Sculpture and the Royal Academy of Arts. Bowles
returned to Australia in 1924, working first for Australian War Memorial
and then undertaking many public commissions.
Bowles’ memorial to George V is highly symbolic in design, signalling the
power of the monarchy and the British Empire’s paternalism towards its
colonies. George came to the throne in 1910 and was more a representative
of the people than a political sleuth, as had been Elizabeth I and Edward
VII. The Empire underwent several changes during his rule: an independent
Irish parliament was established in 1918, the country then divided along
religious lines two years later, and demands for self-governance in the
colonies resulted in the creation of the British Commonwealth of Nations in
1931.
King George V died in 1936. The outbreak of World War Two delayed the
construction of Bowles’ memorial to him, which was funded by public
conscription and by council. The monument was unveiled in 1952 and
underwent conservation in 1996.
Model Tudor Village
Edgar Wilson
Painted cement model, 1948
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, C3)
Edgar Wilson was a 77-year-old pensioner living in England when he built
this model Tudor village in the late 1940s. It is one of three villages he
built, and it represents a typical Kentish village during the Tudor period. As
well as comprising private residences and public buildings, the village is
replete with the residences of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.

The Tudor village was donated to the city of Melbourne through the City of
Lambeth, England, as a gift to the people of Melbourne in appreciation for
the generosity they demonstrated in sending food to Britain during World
War Two. Lord Mayor Cr Raymond Connelly formally opened the village
on 21 May 1948. At the time of writing, the Tudor village was being
restored.
Motorcycle
Granite and marble memorial, 1923
Weedon Reserve, cnr Wellington Pde & Punt Rd (Melway ref. 2G, G5)
Harold Parsons was a legend of Australian motorcycling during the early
20th century. Among his triumphs were setting the world record for the 24hour
triangular course between the Victorian towns of Sale, Stratford and
Maffra, and for the Melbourne to Adelaide ride, both achieved in 1920.
Parsons was killed during a test ride on 15 May 1921, when he collided
with a horse on Epping Road.
Sited on the reserve on the corner of Wellington Parade and Punt Road, this
granite memorial was erected in 1923 by the motorcyclists of Australia and
Parsons’ friends. It sits on a stepped base and is inlaid with a marble plaque
remembering Parsons and with a depiction of the motorcyclist.
Pioneer Monument
Samuel Craven
Sandstone obelisk, 1871
Flagstaff Gardens (Melway ref. 2E, K1)
Flagstaff Gardens once had special significance for the people of
Melbourne. It was a place of hope and a place of sorrow: early colonists
could sight incoming ships from this high point, which brought tangible
links with the old country; and known as Burial Hill, it was also the city’s
first burial ground. This latter role is reflected well in the Gothic
architecture of the memorial, for as if wrested from an English church it is a
reminder that this final resting place for an estimated six early settlers is a
long way from ‘home’.
The rapid growth of Melbourne made the site unsuitable as a cemetery, so a
new burial ground was established at what is now Queen Victoria Market.
Save for two wattle trees, the graves of the first buried went unmarked until
1871. The Department of Public Works then commissioned a sandstone
obelisk by Samuel Craven for this purpose, its pointed uppermost section
now missing. The memorial was erected in April 1871, and at the time of
its unveiling a large cross was cut into the lawns surrounding it. The
memorial’s inscription reads: ‘Erected in 1871 / to the memory of / some of
the earliest of the pioneers of this colony / whose remains were interred
near this spot’.

Pioneer Women’s Memorial
Hugh Linaker
Memorial garden with bronze statue, 1934
Kings Domain (Melway ref. 2F, K9)
Hugh Linaker’s memorial garden is set in a circular depression, with a high
wall of rough masonry covering the cutting at its southern end. This formal,
symmetrical garden is traversed by a watercourse in the shape of a cross,
which flows into a grotto carved into the cutting. Built into the grotto is a
half-cupola lined with blue tiles, under which stands the small bronze statue
of a woman by the sculptor Charles Web Gilbert. The garden was built by
the Public Works Department.
In 1933, the Victorian government formed an all-male Centenary
Celebrations Council in preparation for Melbourne’s centenary the
following year. The Women’s Centenary Council was formed in an attempt
to give the women of the state an influential role in the celebrations. At its
first meeting, this council pledged to erect a suitable memorial to Victoria’s
pioneer women, and fundraising initiatives were established with the aim of
developing a garden of remembrance in Kings Domain. The council’s
initiatives included the sale of a commemorative book and ‘sheets of
remembrance’ onto which anyone, for one shilling, could inscribe their own
name, or that of an ancestor. This was very successful and thousands of
names were gathered and then buried beneath the sundial in the garden. The
work was carried out under the auspices of the Unemployment Relief
Program during the Depression.
In November 1934, Victorian premier Thomas Argyle dedicated the garden,
and in June 1935, Lady Huntingfield and the president of Women’s
Centenary Council, Mrs I.H. Moss, unveiled two bronze plaques.
Port Phillip Monument
Unknown artist
Basalt monument, 1941
Below Shepherd Bridge, Footscray (Melway ref. 42, E6)
This monument was erected in 1941 to commemorate the first landing of
Europeans in the Melbourne area. It is positioned at the original junction of
the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, the two waterways explored by Charles
Grimes in 1803, when he arrived from Sydney. While it is commonly
believed that John Batman first extolled the virtues of site of Melbourne in
1835, some 32 years earlier Grimes made the claim that it was ‘the most
eligible place for a village’.
We don’t recommend that you read the wordy plaque for absolute accuracy,
though: ‘… These rivers were originally discovered by Charles Edward
Grimes / in February 1803 and refound by John Batman in 1836. / Port
Phillip was discovered by John Murray / in the Lady Nelson in February
1802. The first vessel in Hobson’s Bay was the Cumberland, with Grimes
the surveyor. / The first man o’war was the Calcutta. / At the end of the
same year 1803. / The first vessel to ascend the Yarra was John P.
Fawkner’s Enterprise.’

An inset brass plaque in the ground below reads: ‘Historical Note, 1995 /
When this monument was erected in 1941, it was believed that the HMAS
Calcutta / took on fresh water from the Yarra River in November 1803. The
Calcutta log indicates that the / ship came only as far as Frankston, and
took water from Kananook Creek…’
Claude Smith, a keen local historian and Footscray councillor, proposed the
monument in 1937. He maintained that had the Maribyrnong been a
freshwater rather than a saltwater stream, the site of Footscray would have
been the state’s capital.
Queen Victoria Memorial
James White
White marble and granite sculpture, 1907
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, J8)
Born in Edinburgh in 1862, James White trained as a sculptor in London
before immigrating to Sydney in 1884. In the early 1900s he was much in
demand as a portraitist, and was the leading bronze caster in Australia. His
work can be found in many cities around the country, and this is one of two
memorials he sculpted to Queen Victoria; the other is in Ballarat.
Victoria was crowned Queen on 28 June 1838, when she was just 18 years
of age. Lord Melbourne served as her first prime minister, educating her in
politics and government. During her reign the British Empire reached its
apogee, with vast colonies abroad and great industrial expansion and
reforms at home. Notably, it was Victoria that changed the role of the
monarchy to a symbolic one, the business of government being left to
parliament.
News of the Queen’s death in 1901 saw a wave of public mourning
throughout Australia. In Melbourne, a proposal for a memorial was raised
with some urgency; Melbourne was thought to have been the only large city
in the Empire without a statue honouring the monarch. It was apparently
not enough that the state was named after her and the city after her first
prime minister. More than £7000 was raised for the memorial through
public subscription, and James White was to undertake the commission.
There was controversy over the conduct of the committee in selecting
White and over his insistence that the marble be sculpted in Italy, rather
than in Australia. But on Empire Day 1907 the memorial was unveiled on a
raised mound near Linlithgow Avenue in the Queen Victoria Gardens. The
lieutenant governor of Victoria, John Madden, unveiled it.
Railway Viewing Platform
Designer Bernice McPherson; architects Craig Perry and Peter Dann
Metal platform, 1994
Railway Place, West Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, F12)
This is a curious addition to the City of Melbourne’s public art collection.
Tucked away along quiet Railway Place, this platform is set in the
embankment overlooking the tracks of a complex and busy train junction.
Commanding a magnificent view to the west, the platform’s purpose is to

provide an amenity to the local community. Incorporating train wheels and
lengths of rail track, it pays homage to trainspotters the world over and to
the moving, grinding, squealing ‘ships on wheels’ that keep their adrenaline
coursing. Perhaps fittingly, Michael Leunig launched the ludic platform; Mr
Curly would have approved.
Separation Memorial
Artist unknown
Mixed stone sculpture, 1950
Flagstaff Gardens (Melway ref. 2E, K1)
Flagstaff Gardens is a heritage site of much significance to Melbourne. It is
the oldest public gardens, the settlement’s first burial site and the place at
which the flag would be raised to signal an incoming ship. Flagstaff
Gardens was also the site from which news of Victoria’s separation from
NSW was signalled to Melbourne residents through the lighting of a great
bonfire. This sculpture was created to mark the centenary of the
proclamation of separation.
South African War Memorial (aka Memorial to Fallen
Soldiers, and Monument to the 5th Victorian Contingent)
Architect G. De Lacy-Evans; sculptor Joseph Hamilton
Sandstone and bluestone sculpture, 1904
Kings Domain, cnr St Kilda Rd & Government House Dr (Melway ref. 2F,
J10)
The Boer War, or South African War, was fought from 1899 to 1902, the
British pitted against the Boers (now called Afrikaners). Many opposed
Britain’s policy, and in Australia many questioned why the nation should
be involved. Nevertheless, loyalty to Empire ruled and 16,000 troops were
sent, almost a quarter from Victoria. The 5th Victorian Contingent was the
largest of eight sent by the state. Some 228 Victorians were killed during
the war, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in May
1902.
Following the return of soldiers, the remaining members of the 5th
Victorian Contingent erected this monument to honour their fallen
comrades. It is a secular memorial, with traditional funerary symbolism on
an elaborate and Gothic scale. Four bronze plaques commemorate the
soldiers and in part the text reads: ‘Unveiled by members of the 5th
Victorian Contingent VMR / in memory of their fallen comrades in South
Africa 1901–1902 / Honour the brave / King and Empire / Lest we forget /
AD 1903’. One face of the monument is oriented due west, as is common
with memorials to lost soldiers.
The monument was originally constructed opposite the Victoria Barracks,
on St Kilda Road, but was relocated in 1965. In 1911, it was decided that a
memorial would be erected to all Australians who perished during the war;
the Boer War Memorial is located nearby and now administered by the City
of Port Phillip.

Sundial
Bronze sundial on sandstone plinth
Flagstaff Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, A1)
Originally constructed primarily from sandstone, sundials have been
timekeepers for more than 5000 years. This circular bronze sundial sits on a
light cement-rendered sandstone plinth and bluestone hexagonal base. It is
located directly opposite The Court Favorite.
Temple of the Winds
Thomas Julian & Co.
Masonry and bluestone rotunda, 1873
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, C3)
Built by Thomas Julian & Co., Temple of the Winds is a circular masonry
structure, with 10 columns supporting a domed roof; it rests on rough,
dressed bluestone footings. This rotunda is one of the oldest structures in
the Fitzroy Gardens and is very similar the Temple of the Winds erected by
William Guilfoyle in the Royal Botanic Gardens and dedicated to Governor
LaTrobe.

Drinking Fountains
Black Swan Memorial Drinking Fountain
Raymond B. Ewers
Bluestone drinking fountain with bronze plaque, 1974
Boathouse Dr, Yarra River (Melway ref. 2F, H7)
Raymond Ewers was born in Wyalong, NSW, and studied sculpture at
RMIT, Melbourne. In 1974 he produced this fountain in memory of a black
swan named Cookie, which frequented the Alexandra Gardens for many
years and was well known to the public and accidentally killed. This cubeshaped,
bluestone drinking fountain produced in diagonally cut stone
features a bronze plaque with a raised image of Cookie. The plaqu
inscription reads: ‘In memory of Cookie the black swan, who lived in these
gardens from 1967–1973’.
Clayton Reserve Drinking Fountain
Granite drinking fountain, c. 1935
Clayton Reserve, North Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, D6)
Little is known of the history of this fountain near the corner or Boundary
and Macaulay Roads. A minimal and symmetrical granite structure, it
consists of a domed roof, four windows to access the drinking fountain and
a hexagonal base. This simple structure has its origins in Islamic
architectural forms.
Councillor William Cook Memorial Drinking Fountain
Charles Douglas Richardson
Granite, marble and bluestone drinking fountain, 1910
Hardy Reserve, North Carlton (Melway ref. 29, J12)
The design of this memorial drinking fountain is derived from wayside
shrines, a Catholic tradition whereby the faithful erected shrines through the
countryside of Europe. In this secularised form, the spring of water replaces
the holy image. The drinking spout is located below a domed canopy,
above which is the marble bust of the councillor. The fountain bears the
inscription: ‘Erected in the memory of Councillor William Cook by his
many friends in / recognition of services rendered whilst representing
Victoria Ward for 15 years’.
Dinny O’Hearn Fountain
Cast-iron and enamel fountain, 1981
Lygon St, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, G6)
This small cast-iron fountain is named in honour of Dinny O’Hearn, an
Irish-Australian literary critic and man of letters who had a long association
with the nearby University of Melbourne. O’Hearn and much of
Melbourne’s literary establishment of his generation has also enjoyed a
long association with Jimmy Watson’s, the wine bar outside of which the
fountain is sited. O’Hearn died in 1993, at the age of 56.

Domed Drinking Fountain
Marble and granite drinking fountain, c. 1936
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, H7)
Little is known about the origins of this domed drinking fountain. It bears
Ottoman-style motifs and no longer carries its original taps. Early
photographs show that a very similar fountain was once positioned on
Collins Street, but there is no other evidence to confirm it is the same
fountain. It was suggested that this fountain be relocated to Queen Victoria
Gardens, where it would serve as a memorial to Cookie, a resident and
much-loved black swan. But a new memorial fountain to Cookie was
erected in the Alexandra Gardens in 1974.
Duke & Duchess of York Memorial (aka Temperance)
J. Churchman & Sons
Marble, granite and sandstone drinking fountain, 1901
Victoria Square, cnr Elizabeth & Victoria Sts (Melway ref. 2B, C11)
This stone drinking fountain commemorates the visit of the Duke and
Duchess of Cornwall and York, who visited Australia soon after Edward
VII’s ascension to the throne. During their stay in Melbourne, they opened
the first Federal Parliament on 9 May 1901.
The memorial fountain, with its sandstone pillars and symbolic figure of
Britannia, was presented to the City of Melbourne by the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union of Australia in an effort to promote
abstinence. In part, its inscription reads: ‘For God, home and humanity’.
George Hawkins Ievers Memorial Drinking Fountain
Charles Douglas Richardson
Granite, marble and bluestone drinking fountain, 1916
Cnr Gatehouse St & Royal Pde, Parkville (Melway ref. 2B, B3)
Charles Douglas Richardson was born in England and arrived in Australia
in 1858. He studied first in Melbourne and then London before returning to
Australia. He produced many war memorials, as well as the famous
Mercury statue for the former Age building in Collins Street and the bust of
Sir Samuel Gillott, Melbourne’s first Lord Mayor.
Richardson’s shrine-like drinking fountain is one of three memorial
fountains dedicated to the Ievers family and donated to the community in
gratitude for its support. The Ievers had a long association with Carlton,
with three family members representing the Smith Ward: William Jnr
(1881–95), William Snr (1895–1901) and George (1901–21).
George Ievers proposed the fountains in 1913 as part of a beautification
scheme coordinated by the Parks & Gardens Committee, of which he was a
member. This memorial was the last of the three to be unveiled. It carries
the inscription: ‘Presented by Councillor George Hawkins Ievers, JP / to the
citizens of Smith Ward / amongst whom he has lived for the past 61 years /

as a thanks offering to them for having returned him / unopposed, as one of
their representatives, since 1901’.
Henderson Drinking Fountain (aka Hotham Ornamental
Fountain)
Walter MacFarlane
Cast-iron drinking fountain, 1877
Cnr Errol & Queensberry Sts, North Melbourne (Melway ref. 2A, J10)
In 1877, Thomas Henderson presented this drinking fountain to the people
of Hotham (now North Melbourne) to mark the end of his term as mayor.
Designed by Walter MacFarlane and cast by his prominent Glaswegian
Saracen Foundry, it has an imposing circular canopy richly decorated with
cast-iron lacework.
The fountain was originally sited in the roadway at the intersection of Errol
and Queensberry Streets, but was moved in 1889 to allow for the
construction of the new cable-tram tracks. In 1917, it was moved to the
footpath, but without its bluestone steps and iron railings. In 1972, a vehicle
collided with the fountain, damaging its wonderful canopy. Consequently,
the following year it was moved to its current and safer location outside the
Town Hall. Prior to the mid-1960s, the fountain’s drinking spout was
replaced with a modern Danks ‘bubbler’, but in 2001 a duplicate of the
original was created – including the small figure of a kangaroo – based on
MacFarlane’s original drawings and on moulds from similar fountains.
Thomas Henderson, the great-grandson of the donor, attended the ceremony
for the fountain’s restoration.
Reynold’s Reserve Drinking Fountain
Red-granite and brick drinking fountain, c. 1935
Princes Park, Royal Pde, Parkville (Melway ref. 29, G11)
Red-granite forms the trough and cap of this drinking fountain, which
otherwise is built in red brick veneer. It is located at the entrance to Optus
Oval, in Princes Park.
R.J. & F.G.J. Hardy Memorial Drinking Fountain
Stone drinking fountain, 1939
Hardy Reserve, North Carlton (Melway ref. 29, J12)
In 1939, this stone fountain was erected and the reserve named in honour of
Robert John Hardy, who represented the Victoria Ward from 1915 to 1937.
The fountain also honours his son, Frederick George Jack Hardy, who
succeeded him and represented the ward for 37 years. In May 1977, a
plaque was unveiled on each side of the fountain, recognising of the
services of the men.

Samuel Mauger Drinking Fountain
Granite drinking fountain, 1937
Cnr Victoria Pde & Landsdowne St (Melway ref. 2B, K12)
Drinking fountains such as this dot the city landscape and are culturally
significant heritage artefacts. They find their roots in the reformist ways of
the temperance movement, providing a morally astute alternative to the
evils of a city pub. The link between the artefact and its emergence is nicely
captured in this fountain, erected in memory of the former postmastergeneral,
Samuel Mauger. Mauger was a passionate advocate for social
justice. He formed the Anti-Sweating Labour League of Victoria, was a
ceaseless advocate for humanitarian legislation, was involved in the
temperance movement and served as president of the Total Abstinence
Society. He was also a foundation member of the Melbourne Metropolitan
Fire Brigade Board, and for many years served as a volunteer fire fighter.
The inscription on this simple granite fountain attests to the respect Mauger
commanded: ‘Erected by commonwealth admirers in memory of / Samuel
Mauger / … / Industrial, prison, temperance & social reformer / He gave his
life in the service of mankind / This memorial is erected to commemorate
the life and achievement / of one who spent his years in seeking to serve his
fellow men / “Go thou and do likewise”’. It was unveiled in the reserve in
front of the Eastern Hill Fire Station on 26 June 1937.
Sir William Brunton Drinking Fountain
Granite and bluestone drinking fountain, 1930
Curtain Square, North Carton (Melway ref. 2B, J2)
Sir William Brunton was the lord mayor of Melbourne from 1923 to 1926.
He was the powerhouse behind the Lord Mayor’s Hospital Fund, a founder
of the National War Memorial Committee and an advocate of parks and
gardens for public recreation. Following his service, Brunton offered this
ornamental granite and bluestone drinking fountain to the Parks & Gardens
Committee, which had it erected in Curtain Square, on Rathdowne Street,
North Carlton.
Stapley Memorial Drinking Fountain
Granite drinking fountain, 1936
Birrarung Marr (Melway ref. 2F, K6)
In 1936, the area between the Yarra River and Batman Avenue was named
Stapley Parade Reserve, after Councillor Frank Stapley, who represented
the Albert Ward from 1898 to 1939 and served as mayor over 1917 and
1918. Identical granite drinking fountains were erected at either end of the
reserve. They were engraved with ‘Stapley Ave’, which is now known as
Birrarung Marr.

Thomas Ferguson Memorial Drinking Fountain
Stone drinking fountain, 1912
University Square Garden, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, C9)
Thomas Ferguson devoted his life to the cause of the Total Abstinence
Society. The fountain’s inscription reads: ‘In recognition of / faithful
service rendered by / Thomas Ferguson, Secretary Melbourne Total
Abstinence Society / 1868–1904 / …’
The fountain was initially constructed in the centre of Russell Street
opposite the Temperance Hall. It was six metres high and far more
elaborate than it is today. With the rise in the use of motorcars, such street
ornaments became traffic hazards and in 1947 the fountain was badly
damaged when a truck hit it. It was later resurrected in a modified from in
its current site.
Westgarth Drinking Fountain
Alexander McDonald & Co.
Aberdeen pink-granite and bronze drinking fountain, c. 1888
Carlton Gardens, Nicholson St entrance (Melway ref. 2B, J10)
This tiered drinking fountain has two cast-bronze drinking spouts, each
taking the form of an emu. A delightful example of Australiana, it has two
embracing kangaroos surmounting the drinking troughs, which in turn are
surmounted by a finial-like bronze and glass light.
Manufactured by Alexander McDonald & Co., this pink-granite fountain
was presented to the people of Victoria by 1840s’ pioneer William
Westgarth when he returned to Melbourne to visit the Centennial
Exhibition in 1888. It was removed from its original site around 1953, after
which Giannarelli & Sons acquired it for their land at Merri Creek,
Northcote. It was never erected at Northcote, but Giannarelli restored the
work for temporary erection at one of the main entrances (on Melbourne
Avenue) to the 1988 Brisbane Expo. In 1993, it was purchased from the
company and returned to the historic Carlton Gardens.
William Ievers Jnr Memorial Drinking Fountain
Charles Douglas Richardson
Granite, marble and bluestone drinking fountain, 1916
Macarthur Square, Rathdowne St, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, H7)
Born in England, Charles Douglas Richardson arrived in Australia in 1858.
He studied first in Melbourne and then in London. Following his return to
Australia, Richardson produced many war memorials, as well as the famous
Mercury statue for the former Age building in Collins Street.
Richardson sculpted three memorial fountains dedicated to the Ievers
family, who donated them to the community in thanks for its support.
William Jnr (1881–95), William Snr (1895–1901), and George Hawkins
(1901–21) consecutively represented the Smith Ward for a period of 40
years. George Ievers proposed the fountains in 1913 as part of a
beautification scheme coordinated by the Parks & Gardens Committee, of

which he was a member. At the unveiling of this second monument,
Minister Mutchinson claimed: ‘the residents of Melbourne should be
grateful to the Parks & Gardens Committee for having transformed ugly,
vacant spaces into beauty spots and breathing spaces for the city’.
William Ievers Snr Memorial Drinking Fountain
Charles Douglas Richardson
Granite, marble and bluestone drinking fountain, 1915
Argyle Square, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, F9)
Born in England, Charles Douglas Richardson arrived in Australia in 1858.
He studied first in Melbourne and then in London. Following his return to
Australia, Richardson produced many war memorials, as well as the famous
Mercury statue for the former Age building in Collins Street.
Richardson sculpted three memorial fountains dedicated to the Ievers
family, who donated them to the community in thanks for its support.
William Jnr (1881–95), William Snr (1895–1901) and George Hawkins
(1901–21) consecutively represented the Smith Ward over a period of 40
years. George Ievers proposed the fountains in 1913 as part of a
beautification scheme coordinated by the Parks & Gardens Committee, of
which he was a member. This was the first of the three memorials to be
unveiled, which took place in August 1919.

Water Features
Bali Memorial
Memorial fountain, 2003
Granite, concrete and stainless steel
Lincoln Square, Swanston Street, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, E9)
This fountain and landscaped site memorialises those who lost their lives or were
injured by the bomb blasts that devastated Kuta, Bali, on 12 October 2002, and
honours those who helped in the aftermath. It has been conceived as a place of
comfort, the seating offering a place for quiet contemplation.
The memorial’s centrepiece is a low concrete platform in which two rectangular
pools are sunk. These house 91 jets, representing the Australians who perished in
the bombing; the names of the 22 Victorians killed are recorded on the sides of the
fountain. The fountain’s 202 lights represent all who died that night. A plaque on
the eastern side of the memorial lists the names of the Australians who lost their
lives. On each anniversary of the bombing, the fountain recedes to become a
reflection pool.
This memorial rejuvenated an existing water feature, built on the site in the 1960s.
Coles Fountain
Robert Woodward
Stainless-steel fountain on bluestone paving, 1981
Parliament Reserve, cnr Spring & Albert Sts (Melway ref. 2F, J1)
Water sculptor Robert Woodward has completed many public commissions,
including a water feature in the Australian High Court.
Sited in Parliament Gardens, his Coles Fountain is a striking counterpoint to its
historical garden setting. Its stainless-steel tubing forms a geometrical frame some
three metres high, from which water cascades into a shallow pool below. To ‘enter’
the C-shaped fountain is to be virtually encircled by a curtain of water. It is set on
finished bluestone paving, which reflects the geometry of the fountain. The plaque
reads: ‘A gift to the people of Victoria from G.J. Coles and Coy Limited’.
Conservatory Fountain (aka Boy with Serpent, and Ornamental
Fountain)
Cast-iron and granite drinking fountain, c. 1900
Conservatory, Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B3)
This Victorian two-tiered drinking fountain features a snake coiled around a boy
with webbed feet and is in a typical 19th-century Italianate style. The lower tier was
replaced with a smaller base when the fountain was restored in 1996. Originally,
passers-by would have drunk from the water held in its lower tier. Due to shifts in
hygiene standards and technology a bubbler was installed.
Previously sited on the corner of Russell and Victoria Streets, it was relocated to
Fitzroy Gardens and turned into a drinking fountain after a car damaged it in 1980.
In 1996, it was placed in a large pond (minus its bubbler) and relaunched as the
Conservatory Fountain.

Dolphin Fountain
June Arnold
Bronze and granite fountain, 1982
Fitzroy Gardens (Melway ref. 2G, B2)
June Arnold’s Dolphin Fountain caused quite a stir when it was proposed. It
comprises around 100 aquatic birds and animals, such as dolphins, crabs and
seahorses, sculpted in bronze and fastened to a small pyramid of granite boulders
over which water cascades. Some in the community questioned just where the
fountain should be located, while others questioned whether it had a place in the
gardens at all. One advisor from the National Trust provocatively asked: ‘Why must
the Fitzroy Gardens continue to be the collecting yard of everybody’s fantasies?’
Following a period of consultation between the artist, Melbourne City Council and
Fountains Trust, it was agreed that the fountain would be sited on the relatively
secluded northern bank of the ornamental lake, rather than on the proposed site on
Albert Street, where it would be far more prominent. It was unveiled in December
1982.
Many of the fountain’s critics have found it at odds with the planned naturalism of
the heritage-listed Fitzroy Gardens, but just as Arnold predicted it has been a
favourite with children ever since its installation.
Exhibition Fountain (aka Hochgurtel Fountain)
Josef Hochgurtel
Portland cement fountain, 1880
Carlton Gardens (Melway ref. 2B, H11)
Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne, Germany, and trained under Herr Fuels,
who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was
assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and
Copenhagen.
The colossal fountain stands some 10 metres high on the south side of the Royal
Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of
Melbourne’s two grand international world fairs. The fountain’s visual elements
were designed to display the young colony’s confidence and advancement,
simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and
industry of nations. At the central level of the fountain, four youths (representing a
young and vibrant colony) dance below symbols of the arts, science, commerce and
industry; for example, musical instruments, a telescope, sailing ship, steam engine
and globe of the world. Above this are images of Victoria’s indigenous flora and
fauna, and a boy with a clamshell. Holding all of this aloft are four merpeople rising
up from the waters of the lower pool. Built during Victoria’s boom years, the
fountain’s spouting water, it was thought, would demonstrate the power and success
of the recently established Yan Yean project, which brought potable water to the
city. On opening day, however, the pressure was too poor to affect much more than
a spurt from the apex of the grand edifice.
In 1994, Hochgurtel’s fountain underwent major restoration. It remains a great
reminder of the glorious days of Marvellous Melbourne.

French Fountain
Artist unknown
Bronze fountain with granite plinth, c. 1880
Carlton Gardens, Nicholson St entrance (Melway ref. 2B, J10)
During Melbourne’s International Exhibition of 1880, the French Fountain formed
the centrepiece of the exhibition’s fernery. It was later transferred to a flowerbed at
the eastern entrance to the Royal Exhibition Building. An elegant work, the bronze
fountain features three youths, each supporting a dolphin, above which rests a
cupped scallop shell. The fountain forms the centrepiece of a round garden bed and
its waters flow into the large, concrete pool in which it sits.
Georges Fountain
Peter Staughton
Bluestone and concrete fountain, 1981
Scots’ Church, Collins St (Melway ref. 2F, G4)
The Collins Street department store Georges was once the grand dame of
Melbourne inner-city retailing. As the department store approached its centenary
year of 1980, it commissioned sculptor Peter Staughton to undertake a
commemorative fountain to mark its 100 years of trading. An agreement was
reached between the Fountains Trust of Victoria and the trustees of Scots’ Church
to locate the fountain close to Georges but on church land, between its assembly
hall and place of worship.
Staughton’s simple yet beautiful design is tucked into a crease between the
buildings. The fountain’s large shallow dish is set into a corner formed by two
bluestone walls, its water gently flowing over the bowl’s lip into the pool below.
The City of Melbourne paved the area for the installation. Lindsay Thompson, then
premier, unveiled the fountain in 1981. Its plaque reads: ‘Presented to the people of
Victoria / by / Georges Australia Limited / on the occasion of Georges’ centenary
1880–1980’.
Grant’s Fountain
Stone fountain, 1901
Cnr Victoria & Exhibition Sts (Melway ref. 2B, G11)
This simple fountain consists of a small waterfall joining two ponds, each with a
modest water jet. Surrounded by plantings, it provides a landscaped green space on
a small traffic island at this northern end of busy Exhibition Street.
Grey Street Fountain
Cement fountain, 1863
Fitzroy Gardens, opposite Grey St, East Melbourne (Melway ref. 2G, D2)
Known simply as the Grey Street Fountain, this is one of the oldest fountains in
Melbourne’s public gardens. Manufactured by Garnkirk, its simple design
comprises three tazza bowls of diminishing size set on a volcanic-rock outcrop
within a pool.
Its construction commenced in 1863 under the direction of Clement Hodgkinson,
the assistant commissioner of the Survey Office. The original concept incorporated
a pool 30.5 metres long, with a central cluster of rocks from which water was to be

ejected to nearly 15.25 metres, although this appears not to have been realised. The
pond was filled with small islands of aquatic plantings and Sydney Couch Grass.
In 1968, Melbourne City Council wanted to replace the fountain with an elaborate
sundial to commemorate the recently deceased prime minister, Harold Holt. When
the council’s intention became known, some 800 people petitioned against the
fountain’s removal. In the face of such opposition, plans for the sundial were
scrapped and the Grey Street Fountain retained. The fountain is the only surviving
ornament from that period in its original position in Fitzroy Gardens.
Grollo Fountain
Bluestone and granite fountain, 2001
Melbourne Museum, Rathdowne St entrance (Melway ref. 2B, H9)
This ground-level bluestone-tile fountain replaced the original Grollo Fountain
when Centennial Hall was superseded by the new Melbourne Museum. Luigi
Grollo presented the original fountain on behalf of the family companies in 1980, to
celebrate the centennial year of the Royal Exhibition Building. It was a project of
mammoth proportions, both structurally and financially, featuring 44 water jets set
in concentric rings and using 5500 gallons of recycled water per minute. It’s more
modest replacement has just nine jets and nine lights, and three large granite slabs at
its edges.
Grotto Waterfall
Basalt and cement, 1981
Kings Domain, near the Royal Botanical Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, J8)
This feature, funded by public subscription, encompasses stonewalls and pathways
in a leafy glade and fernery. It provides a tranquil setting within the Kings Domain.
Water cascades through a series of features into a cement grotto, then flows into a
series of circular pools. Due to water restrictions, the source is currently turned off.
When the water feature is running, bridges and pathways provide meandering
walkways around the pools.
Lake Waterfall
Stone waterfall, 1973
Queen Victoria Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, J8)
When Victoria’s drought is not preventing the use of water features in the city’s
parks and gardens, water cascades some three metres over this stone waterfall. It is
located on the south side of the ornamental lake, near the Queen Victoria
Monument.
Macpherson Robertson Fountain
Designer Philip Hudson; sculptor Paul Montford
Granite, bronze and concrete fountain, 1934
Shrine Gardens, cnr Domain & St Kilda Rds (Melway ref. 2K, J1)
Architect Philip Hudson moved from New Zealand to Melbourne in 1903. He
designed several grammar schools, as well as the Shrine of Remembrance, near
which this fountain is sited. On this work he collaborated with celebrated sculptor
Paul Montford, who migrated to Australia from England in 1921.
The fountain has one pool within another, and a central column upon which sits a
bronze figure of a boy catching a dolphin. Water sprays into the pools from bronze

animals. The fountain was a gift from Sir Macpherson Robertson to celebrate
Victoria’s centenary.
Robertson was a successful businessman and a philanthropist, making his money
and name in confectionery; he was responsible for introducing chewing gum and
fairy floss into Australia. Robertson gave to many causes and expeditions, Sir
Douglas Mawson even naming Mac Robertson Land in Antarctica in his honour. In
celebration of Victoria’s centenary, Robertson donated £15,000 as first prize in the
Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne and £100,000 for works to be
undertaken around the city. The fountain is one result of this donation.
Mockridge Fountain
Ron Jones, Simon Perry and Darryl Cowie
Concrete fountain, c. 2000
City Square, Collins St (Melway ref. 1B, N8)
For most of his career renowned architect John Mockridge lived and worked in
Melbourne, contributing to the city’s built fabric. Mockridge passed away in 1994,
and in his will he bequeathed funds for a public fountain in his memory and as a
tribute to the city he loved.
The will stipulated that the fountain have a vertical component over which water
could play, day and night; it was written and the fountain built before the severity of
our changing climate was fully appreciated. In response, Ron Jones, Simon Perry
and Darryl Cowie designed a simple yet visually engaging fountain, a thin veil of
water stretching out across the face of a concrete wall, creating shimmering patterns
as it spills across the grooved surface. Ten metres long and 3.4 metres high, the
water wall has a calming and a cooling effect on a hot Melbourne day.
In its early years, the fountain functioned much as Mockridge envisaged, but the
endless play of water has ceased with Melbourne’s deepening water restrictions. In
early 2007, artist Ash Keating painted a temporary mural titled Parched on timber
panels that cover the wall’s now-stilled waters. A plaque at the fountain’s side
memorialises its benefactor.
River God Fountain (aka Old Man Fountain, and Neptune)
Charles Summers
Stone and cement fountain, 1862
Fitzroy Gardens, Eades St entrance (Melway ref. 2G, C2)
Born in Somerset, England, in 1825, Charles Summers gained his earliest training
with his father, who was a stonemason and builder. He was admitted to the Royal
Academy at 24, but migrated to Australia three years later due to poor health. In
1855, Summers established a studio in Collins Street, and he was the founder of the
Victorian Society of Fine Arts. He quickly rose to prominence, gaining many
notable commissions, including a memorial to Burke and Wills.
While Summers was the sculptor of this larger than life-size statue, which holds
aloft an opened clamshell-shaped fountain, it was created in collaboration with
Clement Hodgkinson. Born in England in 1818, Hodgkinson trained as a civil
engineer before coming to Australia. A talented and diligent man, he joined

Melbourne’s Survey Office as a temporary draftsman and rose rapidly through the
ranks to become deputy surveyor-general in 1858 and assistant commissioner for
Crown Lands & Survey in 1861. Described in the Illustrated Melbourne Post as
‘that most tasteful of amateur gardeners’, he was responsible for the development of
the Fitzroy, Flagstaff and Treasury Gardens. Hodgkinson was also instrumental
developing the Yan Yean project, a reticulated water supply that was essential for
the growing city and which allowed its gardens to exist on the scale they did. Based
on works by Italian sculptors of the Renaissance, River God celebrated this
permanent water supply for Melbourne.
In 1956, council proposed replacing River God; it was in poor condition and 19thcentury
sculpture was thought to be old fashioned, despite the fountain’s historical
significance. In 1962, it was replaced with Robin Boyd’s Fountain of the Birds.
Some three decades later, River God was discovered in a council depot. In 1996, it
was conserved and returned not to its original position between Gipps and Hotham
Streets, but to above a newly created rockery at the Eades Street entrance. While it
is an important historical monument, River God is also notable as an example of the
work of Melbourne’s foremost early sculptor, Charles Summers.
Spray Lake
Steel and bluestone fountain, 1965
Carlton Gardens, near Nicholson St (Melway ref. 2B, J11)
This ornamental lake in Carlton Gardens features numerous small jets of water that
are set in a circle and which spray forth towards one larger central jet. The lake is
bordered by a bluestone retaining wall and contains a small leafy island.
Stanford Fountain
William Stanford
Bluestone fountain, c. 1z870
Gordon Reserve, cnr Spring & Macarthur Sts (Melway ref. 2F, K2)
William Stanford’s bluestone fountain features a boy on the upper tier, encircled by
birds and fish on the lower tier. But this scene of innocence was created in a far less
naive setting.
Stanford was apprenticed to a London stonemason before coming to Australia to try
his luck on the Bendigo goldfields. When he failed to make his fortune, he turned to
horse stealing, and in 1854 was imprisoned for 10 years. He was released after six
on ticket-of-leave, but was soon found guilty on two charges of highway robbery
and another of horse stealing. The sentences amounted to a total of 22 years, two of
which were served as hard labour in irons after Stanford broke out of a supposedly
‘escape-proof’ gaol in 1861. In Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison, Stanford’s talent for
drawing and carving was recognised – he carved bones left over from stews – and
the prison governor allowed him to turn his hand to carving stone. Local sculptor
Charles Summers tutored Stanford, who soon set to carving a fountain from
bluestone from the prison quarry, which was the only material available to him. He
modelled the fountain’s avian adornments on a stuffed eagle-hawk and modelled
the boy on the governor’s son.
The fountain was installed in Carpentaria Place (now known as Gordon Reserve) in
1871, following Stanford’s release after he and his friends petitioned for this on the
grounds of his ill health. The Illustrated Australian News claimed the fountain was

‘not only a work of great beauty but ... executed under circumstances of extreme
difficulty [which for] most men would have been insurmountable’. Stanford
received no payment for the fountain but in time became a respected citizen; he
established a business in Windsor, which had a reputation for creating fine
headstones. Stanford died in 1880 from ‘stonemasons’ disease’, having inhaled a
surfeit of fine dust while creating his beautiful fountain.
Walker Fountain
Mobelt, Digregorio & Associates
Concrete fountain, 1981
Cnr Linlithgow Ave & St Kilda Rd (Melway ref. 2F, H9)
The Edmund Fitzgibbon Memorial first occupied the site of the Walker Fountain.
his concrete fountain was donated to the people of Victoria in 1981 by former
Melbourne mayor Ron Walker and his wife, Barbara. It comprises 46 underwater
lights and 144 individual streams of water.