Eternity (graffito)

The word Eternity was a graffito tag recorded over an approximate 35-year period from 1932 to 1967, written numerous times in chalk in the streets of Sydney, Australia. The word had been written by Arthur Stace, an illiterate former soldier, petty criminal and alcoholic who became a devout Christian in the late 1940s. For years after his conversion up until his death in the 1960s, Stace walked the streets of Sydney at night writing the single word "Eternity" on walls and footpaths in his unmistakable copperplate handwriting. His identity remained unknown until it was finally revealed in a newspaper article in 1956. It is estimated Stace wrote the word over half a million times.[1]

The aluminium replica Eternity at Town Hall Square, Sydney.

Only two original Eternity inscriptions are known to exist. One is on a piece of cardboard Stace gave to a fellow parishioner, and is held by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.[2] The other, and the only remaining inscription in situ, is inside the bell of the Sydney General Post Office clock tower.[3]