Sculptures and Statues

Colin Thiele wrote the 1964 Australian children’s novel about a boy and his pelican. The story was set in The Coorong area of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. This statue is in Eudunda, the birthplace of Thiele.

Map the Miner, also known as Map Kernow or the Son of Cornwall, is a 7-metre (23 ft) statue commemorating the Cornish mining history of the town of Kapunda in South Australia. Built by Ben van Zetten, the statue stands to at the southern entrance to the town, and is regarded as one of Australia’s Big Things.

Statue of Patrick “Paddy” Hannan in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia. Hannan was a gold prospector whose lucrative discovery on 14 June 1893 set off a major gold rush in the area. On the statue Paddy has a waterbag at his side. It has a water tap which Ray has turned on.

Light Horse Memorial – Yeerakine Rock , Kondinin, Western Australia
The sculpture commemorates the men and animals who sacrificed their lives for their country during World War One. It evokes the memories of local men who were members of the 10th Light Horse Regiment during that conflict.

Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania – during the convict penal settlement days, savage attack dogs were chained from one side of the neck to the other within reach of each other to deter prisoners from attempting an escape by land from Port Arthur. As a sombre reminder of the location’s use, a bronze dog sculpture marks the spot where chained attack dogs were once stationed.

This sculpture, on the Hobart docks, commemorates the Tasmanian Antarctic explorer Louis Bernacchi (1878 – 1942). He became the first Australian to work and winter in Antarctica. It represents Louis taking a self portrait with his dog Joe and is a tribute to the 1899 British Antarctic Expedition of which he was a member. The statue called Louis and Joe was made in 1998.

Jack Riley; The inspiration for A.B. “Banjo” Paterson’s poem “The Man from Snowy River” in Corryong, Victoria. We attended The Man From Snowy River Festival and watched a re-enactment of the horse chase and it was totally amazing!

A larger than life statue of Henry Parkes in the main shopping area of Parkes, New South Wales. Henry is known as the Father of Federation. He was a great speaker and was known in particular for his Tenterfield Oration where he called for the federation of the six colonies of Australia.

This sculpture in Port Lincoln, South Australia, commemorates navigator Matthew Flinders (1774 -1814) and his cat Trim. Trim was a ships’ cat who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia in 1801–03. The statue depicts Flinders kneeling and using his compass to chart his voyage along the South Australian coast. His map of Australia is on the base and he is measuring a part of the coastline.

“Pyramid” was created as a symbol of a perfect balance of community and friendship in the town of Forbes, New South Wales. It has however divided the community over it’s meaning. Tourists have been drawn to it and in it’s first year was the most photographed object in the town.


This is a life-size bronze statue of Captain Harry J. Butler AFC in Minlaton, South Australia. It depicts Harry in the role that he was most loved and known for, becoming the first man to fly across the Gulf St Vincent from Adelaide to Minlaton with the first bag of airmail to be carried across water in the southern hemisphere on August 6, 1919.

A memorial “to commemorate the courage and compassion” of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a stretcher bearer during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. This full size bronze sculpture, Simpson and his donkey, 1915, stands outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

This memorial is dedicated to the ‘diggers’ of the Australian Army who fought on the African Veldt, in the trenches of France, in the Western Desert and in the jungles of the Pacific and South East Asia. It is located on Anzac Parade, Canberra.

Wardandi Boodja is a five and a half metre steel bust which takes pride of place at the Koombana Foreshore in Bunbury, Western Australia. The sculpture represents the face of a Noongar elder, seeking to merge traditional sculpture and advanced fabrication technology to create a striking contemporary artwork that pays deep respect to the Noongar people. We took this photo at sunset.

These last two blog posts are but a minute representation of the thousands of incredible art works we have seen in the past six years. We hope you have enjoyed “seeing” them through our photography. Cheers to the next six years! 🙋♂️🙋♀️
