Statues & Coffee Walk

1920 Brick, cement rendered, public subscription

On the Western Highway is a 22 kilometre stretch of 3728 trees, each one a memorial to men and women in order of enlistment for World War 1. The final planting was completed on 9 June 1919 and the employees of the Lucas Factory then began to collect money to build the Arch of Victory to form an entrance. They pledged 2d in every pound of their wages, sold souvenirs and held fund raising drives. On 2 June 1920, the Prince of Wales opened the Arch and was presented with a pair of silk pyjamas embroidered with Australian emblems. Each of the 500 'Lucas Girls' had put in a stitch.

A new memorial in the form of a rotunda has been constructed adjacent to the Arch of Victory and in 1997 a management plan was devised for the maintenance of the Avenue of Honour. The trees are now in a state of decline but the Avenue is to be retained as a most significant cultural asset of national importance. On November 6, 1997, a Restoration Fund was launched to raise $600 000 for the annual replacement of 100 trees for the next 40 years.

1922 Sculptor: unknown, Marble, granite, bronze, copper

In the median strip opposite the Ballarat Base Hospital on the corner of Sturt and Drummond Streets there is an ornamental fountain presented to the Ballarat City Council in December 1922. There are four bronze frog water spouts beneath four marble stork spouts. Above the top bowl is another stork in bronze with its wings spread and water issues from its outstretched beak. It is considered to be elegant and beautiful. The inscription reads: C.H. Petersen born in Schleswig, Denmark 2 March, 1838, died Ballarat 9 February, 1922.

Carsten Heinrich Petersen is buried in the Presbyterian Section of the Ballarat New Cemetery A 17 3, father of Henry, Will and George. His wife Dorothea Katharina Elisabeth ms Dankers was born in Holstein, Denmark c1842 and was buried in 1912 in the Ballarat Old Cemetery F1.14. 8 with her daughter, son and grandson.

Mr Petersen was killed at the age of eighty-five years when crossing Sturt Street opposite the Base Hospital. On the other side of the street were three brick shops which he owned. Under the terms of his will he left £400 to the Ballarat City Council for the erection of a drinking fountain in that block in Sturt Street as well as a marble statue. It was reported in the Argus (Melbourne, Victoria) on 4 Sep 1922 in the Country News for Ballarat & District that the money has now been received by council.

The Petersen Fountain was periodically vandalised and in 1977 it was restored by the Rotary Club of Ballarat South. The Ballarat Courier of the 20th of October 1989, showed monumental mason, Les Waight, cleaning the bronze frogs which would be slotted into a rim of marble covering the cement. Soon they would be joined by a brass and copper stork made by Ballarat craftsman Lloyd Lusk. The construction of the bird's shapely form and many copper feathers involved more than 200 hours of work for Mr Lusk. This would replace the original bird which was stolen and never recovered. The second stork was also stolen on the 3rd of August 1983 when the Ballarat City Council offered a reward of $250 for its return. Ballarat South Rotary Club again saw to the repair of the fountain in 1993. "25th year" on the plaque must be the anniversary of the Club.

Sculptor: George H Allen, Hawkesbury River freestone, granite plinth

Frank Pinkerton Bequest Statue In the western median strip at the intersection of Sturt and Raglan Streets a large grey stone sculpture on a granite base was erected in November 1952. The sculptor from Melbourne has created a female figure as the centrepiece, with two reliefs figures at the front and rear depicting a miner and a farmer.

The symbolism is described on the plaque.

CENTRAL FIGURE EARTH EMERGING FROM RELIEF FIGURES REPRESENTING THE INDUSTRIES OF MINING AND AGRICULTURE.

Frank Pinkerton was born in Ballarat in 1858, the eldest son of William Pinkerton (pioneer mining investor) and Martha ms KENNY. He attended Ballarat College and in 1885 was admitted to practise as a solicitor as a member of the firm Salter & Pinkerton (est 1856). From 1899 he practised on his own account and was solicitor to various Ballarat institutions. He was a Life Governor of the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum. He died in 1931 and is buried in the Ballarat Old Cemetery with his parents, two maiden sisters and a brother.

1969 Sculptor: Raymond B Ewery, Cast bronze, granite

The Horse Statue / Adam Lindsay Gordon Memorial At the western side of the Sturt and Lyons Street crossroads there is magnificent bronze statue by Evans of a horse mounted on a stone plinth. In front, by the gutter, is a hitching post with a plaque inscribed "A.L. GORDON, AUSTRALIAN POET, 1833 - 1870."

He was a celebrated poet and horseman who set a record at Flemington when he won 3 steeplechases in an afternoon. At Mount Gambier in South Australia he performed an amazing feat on his horse at a place immortalised as Gordon's Leap'.

The inscriptions around the base of the statue read:

ERECTED BY THE ADAM LINDSAY GORDON SOCIETY TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF THE POET'S LIVING IN BALLAARAT, ALSO AS A MEMORIAL TO THE 958, 600 HORSES AND MULES KILLED IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR, INCLUDING 169, 000 THAT LEFT THESE SHORES NEVER TO RETURN. *

UNVEILED BY HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR OF BALLAARAT, CR. M.J. BROWN 1969. PRESIDENT CR W.E. ROFF, C.B.E., SECRETARY P. ABSON, ESQ. *

1949 Architect: John P Shimmin, Hawkesbury River freestone

World War I Centotaph This is a solemn sandstone pillar mounted on the west with a bronze wreath and sword. The wording is simple: OUR GLORIOUS DEAD. This is where dawn services are held every ANZAC Day.

The memorial is 27 feet high and cost £2064. The funds were raised by public subscription, which was greatly assisted by a drive conducted on Anzac Day 1948 by radio station 3BA. It was unveiled on the 24th of November 1949 by the Governor of Victoria, General Sir Dallas Brookes. On the 27 April 2010 it was announced that funds became available from the State Government's Restoring Community War Memorials Program to refurbish this monument. The Air Force Association Ballarat branch will oversee the cleaning and repair work.

1995 Sculptor: Peter Blizzard, Bronze

World War 1939 -1945 Memorial

This human-size metal sculpture, in the shape of of flame, is green on three sides and gold on the face to the setting sun. The lettering is set in stone on the ground. It reads:

This memorial, erected in the year of the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II honours the sons and daughters of Australia who served our country during those years of hostilities on the ground, in the air and at sea. Many rest forever in foreign lands. They fought in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, South East Asia and the Pacific in the brave and selfless tradition established by the Anzacs during World War I. We acknowledge our debt to them and recognise those who as civilians, worked tirelessly in the factories, on the land or from home to support them.

LEST WE FORGET

1893 Sculptor: T Nelson McLean, Aberdeen granite

Peter Lalor Statue In Sturt Street between St Andrew's Kirk and St Patrick's Cathedral stands an impressive monument, fashioned in pink granite and bronze. The figure of Peter Lalor is mounted high in the air looking to the east to the diggings where the stockade was located. If he could open his eyes today he would see the huge mast and flag above the Eureka Interpretive Centre. He is dressed in his Speaker's wig and parliamentary robes which cover the stump of his missing arm.

The bronze relief tablets mounted around the base tell the Eureka story.

The south and north panels depict tableaus of Peter Lalor's life, a battle scene in the Eureka Stockade with the Eureka flag flying above and as a member of Parliament.

The western tablet is a memorial to the men (named) who were killed while fighting at The Eureka Stockade, December 3rd, 1854.

Ballarat Centenary (1935) p59 "On the 26th January, 1893, the Premier, Duncan Gillies, came to Ballarat to unveil the statue of Peter Lalor. This beautiful bronze, one of the best in Ballarat's collection, cost $2 500 and was the gift of James Oddie, the first Chairman of the Municipality. The Premier in an eloquent speech cleverly balanced the virtues of Lalor as a traitorous rebel with those of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly."

2000 Granite

Memorial to Australian forces involved in these conflicts: * Korean War 1950-53 * The Malayan Emergency 1950-60 * Borneo Uprising 1962-64 * Vietnam War 1962-72

2000, Bronze, Sculptor: Louis Laumen

Sir Albert Coates Memorial

Dr James (Jim) Pryor was President of the Albert Coates Memorial Trust and gave the address at the Albert Coates Dinner on Sat 14th May 2000 prior to unveiling statue on 15th May.

Jim remembered Sir Albert Coates in 1948-49 as a lecturer in surgery at Melbourne University and described him as a brilliant lecturer. He was also the Senior Surgeon at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Albert Coates was a medical orderly in World War 1 and at the outbreak of World War II he volunteered for the Australian Army and was posted to Singapore where he was in charge of a hospital. After the fall of Singapore he was captured in Sumatra and spent three years as a Japanese prisoner of war, ministering to the sick prisoners, as did Sir 'Weary' Dunlop.

Sir Albert Coates was a Ballarat boy who left school at 12 years of age and achieved against all the odds.

1907 Architect: R Ludbrook, Wrought iron

Queen Alexandra Bandstand

This ornate hexagonal bandstand is a memorial to Queen Alexandra. It stands in Alexandra Square, named by His Highness the Duke of York, in 1901, after his mother Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII.

The wrought iron panels were made at the Eagle Foundry in Dana Street.

1995 Polished granite, greystone

William Dunstan Memorial
The memorial to William Dunstan, Ballarat's Victoria Cross winner, was erected in 1995 in the median strip in Sturt Street between Dawson and Drummond Streets as part of the federally funded 'Australia Remembers' project which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is a pink marble and greystone pillar with the Australian Imperial Force crest on the east and a metal plaque on the western side which tells the story.

1938 Sculptor: Victor E Greenhalgh, Bronze, granite

George V
This monument was made in 1937 by Victor E. Greenhalgh, a Ballarat born man, who also made busts of six of the prime ministers in the Gardens. This, his largest sculpture, is the statue of George V and shows the royal crest of the lion and the unicorn with inscriptions in Latin, 'DIEU ET MON DROIT' ('God and my right').

George V is shown holding the orb and sceptre and is dressed in the ceremonial robes of the Order of the Garter signified by the garter worn on his left leg below the knee.

At a court ball while Edward III was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury her garter slipped and as the King stooped to pick it up, to quell the mockery of onlookers, he uttered the phrase, 'HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE'. ('Evil be to him who evil thinks').

He vowed to make the garter 'so glorious that everyone would want to wear it'. He founded the Order of the Garter in 1349 and his words became the motto of the oldest and most senior order of knighthood still existing in England.

The bronze statue, facing east, is surrounded by extensive granite seating.

1899 Sculptor: Charles F Summers, White Carrara marble

Presented to the City of Ballaarat by the following citizens.
H F Elliot Mayor
The Hon E Morey MLC
Cr C B Retallack
Cr J Heinz
Cr C C Shoppee
J N Wilson
T Stoddart

1899 Sculptor: B Raggi, White Carrara marble

Statue of Hebe

The plaque reads:
"Presented to The City Council of Ballaarat by John Permewan J.P. 1899"

Unveiled 3 April 1889. This wealthy gentleman of the firm of carriers Permewan & Wright, was also an investor.

1889 Sculptor: George Grant, White Carrara marble

Thomas Moore Statue
Made by H.F.E. Elliot, this marble statue on a pedestal faces east at the intersection of Sturt and Armstrong Streets.

The inscriptions are as follows:

West:
Presented to the City Council of Ballaarat by the following citizens; H.F. Elliot, The Honorable E. Morey M.L.C., Cr C.R. Retallick, Cr J. Heinz.

South:
R.S. Mitchell, P. Papenhagen, T. Elliot, J. Snow, G.K. Coutts, C. Bailey, J.J. Goller & Co, W.E. Ballhausen, G. Thompson, W.H. Figgis.

North:
S. Seward, F.G. Haymes, Craig Williamson, R. Giddings, G. Berry, R. Inge, J.A. Pittard, L. Lederman, H. Bremer, D. Jones.

Mayor William Little's report 1890 "The Events of the year have been numerous and noteworthy. The streets have been embellished by the unveiling of the 'Moore' statue which took place on December 3rd, 1889, in presence of a large crowd of spectators. The ceremony did not end with the unveiling. A Banquet subsequently took place at which the originators and workers of the movement received the mead of praise which was mostly their due."

Ballarat Centenary (1935) p53 "Our Irish citizens collected 1500 to erect a statue of their national poet, Thomas Moore. The stone for the base was imported from Ireland. The statue was unveiled by Sir Bryan O'Loughlin and presented to the City Council in 1889. It was placed in the place where for many years an open air retail market had been an eyesore in the centre of our beautiful Sturt Street.
In the same year our Englishmen collected 325 for a statue of Shakespeare. The amount in hand today is 900, and 2000 will come into the hands of the City Council from the estate of the late H.P. Stevens on the death of two beneficiaries."

Phoenix Foundry Plaque

"The Phoenix Foundry began as a private foundry on its Armstrong Street South site in February 1856 manufacturing machinery for the mining companies. In 1871 it made its first locomotive for a West Australian timber company and two years later built the first of 352 steam engines for the Victorian Railways. The opening of the Newport Railway workshops forced this once great firm that employed up to 700 men to close in July 1906."

Ref: Ballarat Golden City : A Pictorial History (1989) John Reid and John Chisholm, Photography by Max Harris, Joval Publications, Bacchus Marsh, p76

1902 Marble

Queen Victoria Drinking Fountain
This marble monument made by F.W. Commons, facing Armstrong Street has a statue of two small children.

The metal plaque reads:

FOR GOD, HOME AND HUMANITY
IN MEMORIUM
HER LATE MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA
PRESENTED BY
THE WOMEN'S
CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION
TO THE CITY OF BALLARAT
J.J. BROKENSHIRE, MAYOR
24 MAY 1902

Underneath, another plaque reads:

J. A. Chisholm, Mayor, 24th May 1978."(In 1997 there was no water flowing.)

1906 Sculptor: James White, Bronze, granite

Soldiers' Statue - South African War Memorial
Balllarat 'Centenary' Home-Coming Celebrations (1935) p69 "On November 1st, 1906, the Soldiers' Statue found at last a final site and was unveiled by His Excellency Lord Northcote, the Governor-General, in the presence of some 20 000 people. This is the only monument in Victoria giving the names of all the State's soldiers killed."

The bronze plaques with the names of those killed were added a few years later. (Lloyd Jenkins said the plaques were added in 1911.)

The inscriptions read:

Burke and Wills Monument 1867

Wendy Jacobs, Ballarat Heritage Architect, has remarked on the irony of erecting a fountain to explorers who died of thirst! The Burke and Wills expedition began from Melbourne on 20 August 1860 to cross the continent from south to north. Wills had been a resident of Ballarat and his father, a physician, had a surgery in Humffray Street. There was much deliberation about the site and payment for a monument - beginning on 16 December 1861 and ending on 4 November 1867 when the present monument was completed.

Ballarat Centenary (1935) p35 "After the failure of the Burke and Wills Expedition, the citizens of Ballarat decided to erect a monument to the memory of the ill-fated explorers, especially Wills, who had been a resident of Ballarat, his father having a chemist's shop just above Marks' Corner in Sturt Street. The original plan for this monument (now in The Ballarat Historical Society Museum) is quite different from that adopted. Only enough money was raised to place an ugly lump of basalt in position. This unsightly mass remained till 1865, when a new committee was formed to collect money to complete the modified monument. On August 28th 1865, Mayor T. Davey laid the new foundation stone."

The inscriptions on the plaques read:

North:
In memory of the explorers who perished while crossing the Australian continent in the year of 1861.
West:
John King
The only survivor of the expedition died at St Kilda January 15th 1872.
South:
Erected by the inhabitants of Ballarat.
East:
Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader, died 30th June 1861
William John Wills, Second, died 30th June 1861
Ludwig Becker, Naturalist, died 29th April 1861
Charles Grey, Assistant, died 17th April 1861

1887 Sculptor: John Udny, White Carrara marble

Robert Burns Statue
Robbie Burns statue was erected by the Scottish community of Ballarat on the site of a large willow known as the 'Loafers' Tree'. Its donation was the first following the example of the Stoddart Statues and like them it was made of white Carrara marble. One of the same sculptors, Giovanni Udney in Italy, was sent a photograph of Burns and instructions for the design, from which he made the statue.

Ballarat Centenary (1935) p51 "On a site where had grown a large willow tree about which the idlers of the City congregated, the Scottish citizens erected a fine statue of their poet, Robert Burns, at a cost of 1 000, but this was not handed over to the City Council till 1897 because the donors had not chosen the quotations for the panels on the base of the pedestal."

Ballarat Times (1995) Peter Butters and Peter Mansfield, Ballarat Historical Society p62 "This monument was the first statue to a poet anywhere in Australia. It was unveiled on 21 April 1887 by Thomas Stoddart before a crowd of 15 000."

It is worth a closer look to see the beautiful patterned tiles around the base. Robert Burns was born near Ayr in Scotland 25 January 1759 and died at Dumfries 21 July 1796. He was a popular farmer-poet and father of nine children. Many of his poems were written to be sung to old Scottish folk tunes.

The quotations around the base read as follows:

North:

Gently scan your brother man.
Still gentler sister woman.
Though they maygang 'a kennin' wrang.
To step aside is human.

Gie me ae spark o' nature's fire
That's a' the learning I desire.
Know prudent, cautious self control
is wisdom's root.
If self the weavering balance shake,
It's rarely right adjusted.

East:

The best laid schemes o' mice and men
gang aft agley
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed,
Or like the snowfall in the river,
A moment white - then melts for ever.

To make a happy fireside clime
to weans and wife
That's the true pathos and sublime
of human life.

South:

I wad some power the gifties gie us
To see ourselves as others see us.

The rank is but the guinea stamp.
The man's the cowd for a' that.

Man's inhumanity to man,
makes countless thousands mourn.

The social, friendly, honest man,
whate'er he be,
'Tis he fulfils great nature's plan,
and none but he.

West:

There was a lad was born in Kyle
The cossip keekit in his loof,
Quo' she, wha lives will see the propf,
This waly boy will be nae coof
I think we'el ca' him Robin.
He'll hae misfortunes great and sma',
But aye a heart aboon them a',
He'll be a credit till us a',
We'll a' be proud o' Robin.

1915 Architect: GW Clegg

Titanic Memorial Bandstand
This was designed by local architect, G.W. Clegg and manufactured at the Eagle Foundry in Dana Street.

The plaque reads:

Ballarat Centenary (1935) p75 "The Victorian Band Association provided the funds to erect a bandstand in memory of the gallant body of men who stood playing sacred music (Nearer My God to Thee) on the deck of the Titanic as this liner slowly sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after a collision with an iceberg." The Titanic was the largest ship in the world and believed to be the safest ship afloat. Of approximately 2200 passengers there were 705 survivors.

2003 Akio Makigawa

(Camp Street Precinct)

Cranari NGV 1885, Marble

Loaned by Darryl Lindsay 1943. Removed from Camp Street Precint to Ballarat Botanical Gardens 2010.

Horse Shoe (The Grand Arch) 2002

Sculptor: Inge King (Camp Street Precinct)

1951 Quartz

The Gold Monument
At the intersection of Sturt and Albert Streets there is a large monument built of quartz boulders from Ballarat District mines. It was erected by the Mayor Cr W. E. Roff and a group of young members associated with the Ballarat Historical Society. The cost of this monument was financed without any appeal to the public.

On the top in the centre there is a miniature mine with a poppet head and mounted on the side there is a full size replica of the Welcome Nugget which was unearthed deep below the surface near the corner of Humffray and Mair Streets on 9 June 1858. It was the largest solid mass of gold ever found in the world up to that time and it was purchased for 10 500 by the Wittkoski Brothers. It was put on display in a hotel in Main Road and every mother who visited was allowed to seat her baby astride the nugget for good luck. It was shipped to England and finally melted down into gold sovereigns. There is another replica on display in the Gold Museum.

Plaques on the monument record the following:
This monument was erected by the Ballarat Historical Society to commemorate the finding of gold at Poverty Point 21 August 1851 and is dedicated to the memory of pioneer miners of Ballarat.

1880 Granite

Galloway Monument, Eight Hours Monument
Ornamental drinking fountain with metal lions' heads for water spouts. The base fashioned by A Simpson, stonemason.

Transcription north and south face:
EIGHT HOURS LABOR
EIGHT HOURS RECREATION
EIGHT HOURS REST

Transcription east face:
ERECTED IN HONOR
OF THE LATE
JAMES GALLOWAY
THE FOUNDER OF
THE EIGHT HOURS SYSTEM IN VICTORIA
BORN AT SPRINGFIELD FIFESHIRE
28TH FEBRUARY 1828
DIED AT COLLINGWOOD MELBOURNE
3RD JUNE 1860
AMICUS HUMANI GENERIS
(Friend of the human race)

Transcription west face:
THIS MONUMENT
IS TENDERED IN TRUST
TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FOR THE WORKING MEN OF BALLARAT
APRIL 1ST 1880

Statue and Coffee Walk

Take a leisurely stroll up Ballarat's major boulevard.
Be inspired by our statues and heritage

Olive Grove
Cafe Delicatessen
1303 Sturt Street Ballarat

L'espresso
Cafe / Restaurant
417 Sturt Street Ballarat