Prime Ministers Avenue

The Prime Ministers Avenue is a collection of busts of the Prime Ministers of Australia, located at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in Ballarat, Victoria. The busts are displayed as bronze portraits mounted on polished granite pedestals. It attracts thousands of visitors annually.^[1]

The 28th Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was the most recent Prime Minister to be added to the Avenue. He attended the unveiling on 5 June 2017.^[2]

History

Richard Crouch, the original donor of the first six busts, was born in Ballarat in 1868. He was MP for Corio, representing the Protectionist Party from 1901 to 1909 and the Commonwealth Liberal Party from 1909 to 1910, and was at the time the youngest member of the House of Representatives. He was also a Labor Party MP for Corangamite from 1929 to 1931.

The first six busts were unveiled on 2 March 1940 by the Governor of Victoria, Winston Dugan. Crouch also bequeathed funds for maintaining the project. It is claimed that Crouch's motivation for starting the collection was "his patronage and love of fine arts, which he supported and endowed in many other ways, and the influence of two parliamentary terms under the statesmen Barton, Deakin, Watson, Fisher and Scullin prompted him to return to Ballarat something of what it had given him".

Sculptors

The busts of Barton, Deakin, Watson, Reid, Fisher, Cook, Hughes, Bruce, Scullin, Lyons, Page, Menzies, Fadden and Curtin were created by Wallace Anderson (1888–1975), born at Dean near Ballarat.^[3] He is best known for his work "Simpson and His Donkey" located at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance.
The creator of Forde's bust is unknown.
The bust of Chifley was created during Chifley's election campaign in 1946 by Ken Palmer, born in 1925 at Ballarat.
The busts of Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon and Whitlam were created by Victor Greenhalgh (1900–1983), born at Ballarat. He is best known for his large statue of King George V which dominates the Sturt Street plantation in Ballarat. Greenhalgh was commissioned to create eight of the busts.
The busts of Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard, Rudd and Gillard were created by Peter Nicholson, born in 1946 in Melbourne. He is best known for his cartoons in the Nation Review, Financial Review and The Age. Nicholson's works have followed his philosophy that the busts should impart an expression of the character of the individual.
The bust of Abbott was created by Linda Klarfeld, born in 1976 in Prague, Czech Republic. In creating the bust she attempted to impart a sense of Abbott's perspective, including the "stamina to cope with day to day criticism".^[2]

Criticisms

Fraser's bust was originally created by Victor Greenhalgh. However, Greenhalgh and others were critical of the final casting. Following Greenhalgh's death in 1983, Peter Nicholson was asked to create a new bust for Fraser, which was completed after the bust of Fraser's successor Hawke had been installed.

Nicholson believes that John Howard was dissatisfied with the size of his lower lip,^[4] and it is said that Paul Keating was unhappy with his bust's weak chin and pointy nose.^[5]

References

↑ Vittorio Hernandez (10 October 2014). "No Bronze Statue Yet For PM Tony Abbott As Ballarat Runs Out Of Funds For Botanical Garden Bust". International Business Times. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
1 2 Charlotte King (5 June 2017). "Tony Abbott's bronze bust unveiled in Ballarat's avenue honouring former prime ministers". ABC News.
↑ Scarlett, Ken (1993). Anderson, William Wallace (1888–1975). Australian Dictionary of Biography. 13. MUP. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
↑ Nicholson Cartoons – Portrait Gallery, nicholsoncartoons.com.au Archived 7 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
↑ "Active Retirees June-July 2012, Page 24". Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.

External links

Prime Ministers Avenue Brochure, Ballarat Botanical Gardens
Prime Ministers Avenue, Monument Australia
Danny Tran (22 July 2016). "Ballarat's Prime Ministers Avenue can't afford to keep up with the quick succession of leaders". ABC News.
Prime Ministers Avenue, Ballarat, 1958, victorianplaces.com.au

Coordinates: 37°32′53″S 143°49′16″E / 37.54806°S 143.82111°E / -37.54806; 143.82111

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[ibtimes-1] Vittorio Hernandez (10 October 2014). "No Bronze Statue Yet For PM Tony Abbott As Ballarat Runs Out Of Funds For Botanical Garden Bust". International Business Times. Retrieved 21 February 2017.

[King-2] 1 2 Charlotte King (5 June 2017). "Tony Abbott's bronze bust unveiled in Ballarat's avenue honouring former prime ministers". ABC News.

[3] Scarlett, Ken (1993). Anderson, William Wallace (1888–1975). Australian Dictionary of Biography. 13. MUP. Retrieved 21 February 2017.

[4] Nicholson Cartoons – Portrait Gallery, nicholsoncartoons.com.au Archived 7 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine.

[5] "Active Retirees June-July 2012, Page 24". Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.