Statues
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 April 2012 18:59:00
I'd like to share three statues with you, two poignant and one just cute.
The first two are at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance , a remarkable building that really moved me.
I've copied a description of the statues from Wikipedia .
The Driver and Wipers Memorial commemorates the thousands of Australian lives lost during the fighting at Ypres; "Wipers" is the way servicemen pronounced "Ypres" during World War I.[56] The bronze soldiers are the work of the British sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger and originally stood outside the Museum and State Library of Victoria in Melbourne.[56] They were transferred to the Shrine in 1998.[56] The Driver is a soldier holding a horse whip and bridles, wearing breeches, a protective legging, spurs, and a steel helmet. The figure is a recasting of one of the figures from the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, London, UK. The other bronze, the "Wipers" figure, is a British infantry soldier standing guard with standard issue .303 rifle, bayonet fixed, a German helmet at his feet. This too is a recasting, taken from the Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial in Merseyside, UK.[61]
And the cute one, just outside the beautiful Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.
Near to the QVB stands a wishing well featuring a bronze sculpture of Queen Victoria's favourite dog "Islay", which was sculpted by local Sydney artist Justin Robson. A recorded message voiced by John Laws urges onlookers to give a donation and make a wish. The tens of thousands of dollars cast into this well annually benefit deaf and blind children.
(This also from Wikipedia . )
I threw some coins in the well and was amused to be thanked by the dog!