Good Morning Flagstaff gardens

Cheerful people are like sunlight,

They shine in to the corners of the heart and offer bright mornings and fresh hopes.

** Good Morning **  to All of you


Skywatch Friday

The Pathfinder ( Aka The Hammer Thrower )

By John Edward Robinson

Bronze sculpture, 1974: Queen Victoria Gardens

Artist John Robinson has a long history with Australia. Born in London in 1935, he came to Australia briefly during the war as a child evacuated to escape the German bombing of London. He returned in 1952, living on the land in South Australia, which is where he rediscovered his early talent for sculpture. Returning to England in 1969, he devoted himself to sculpture full time. Robinson’s reputation as a figurative sculptor grew quickly.

In 1973, the City of London commissioned his Hammer Thrower. In 1974, he began to focus on more symbolic forms. Robinson’s major commissions include four sculptures for the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Gymnast for the New Olympic Museum, Lausanne, and The Pathfinder and Water Children, now with the City of Melbourne.

Mining giant Conzinc Riotinto (now known as Rio Tinto) commissioned Robinson’s The Pathfinder, which they planned to install in their proposed new building. When the building failed to go ahead, the ‘dynamic’ sculpture of the hammer thrower in action was placed on long-term loan with the City of Melbourne, which sited the bronze in the Queen Victoria Gardens.

The hammer held by the figure has been stolen several times and duly returned or replaced by another. Lord Mayor Councillor Whalley unveiled The Pathfinder in April 1974.

The Phoenix

The Phoenix 

Yrsa Von Leister 

Bronze and sheet copper statue, 1973 

Queen Victoria Gardens

Baroness Yrsa Von Leister's winged figure reaches some three metres above the waters of a pond in Queen Victoria Gardens. Originally associated with ancient Egyptians' longings for immortality, the phoenix in Christianity has long been linked to resurrection and everlasting life. Von Leister sculpted the symbolic figure for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne following the 40th International Eucharistic Congress, held here in 1973. Archbishop Cardinal Knox then donated the work to the Melbourne City Council for the support it had shown during the congress. 

Von Leister flew to Australia to complete finishing touches to the rough-hewn sculpture prior to its unveiling. In March 1976, the Most Reverend T.F. Little gifted the sculpture to the citizens of Melbourne on behalf of the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission. He said, 'The ... phoenix is accepted throughout the world as symbolising everlasting life. It glorifies Him who is truth and eternal life.'

Skywatch Friday

The red mushroom

Another day, showers day in Melbourne. And it is normal when someone walk across the park but this lady and the umbrella.... she look like the red mushroom under the tree : ) 

Memorial in Queen Victoria Garden

This is one of two memorials of Queen Victoria Memorial ; the other is in Ballarat. Scultured by James White. Born in Edinburgh in 1862, James White trained as a sculptor in London before immigrating to Sydney in 1884. In the early 1900s he was much in demand as a portraitist, and was the leading bronze caster in Australia. His work can be found in many cities around the country.

Victoria was crowned Queen on 28 June 1838, when she was just 18 years of age. Lord Melbourne served as her first prime minister, educating her in politics and government. During her reign the British Empire reached its apogee, with vast colonies abroad and great industrial expansion and reforms at home. Notably, it was Victoria that changed the role of the monarchy to a symbolic one, the business of government being left to parliament.

News of the Queen's death in 1901 saw a wave of public mourning through Australia. In Melbourne, a proposal for a memorial was raised with some urgency; Melbourne was thought to have been the only large city in the Empire without a statue honouring the monarch. It was apparently not enough that the state was named after her and the city after her first prime minister. More than £7000 was raised for the memorial through public subscription, and James White was to undertake the commission. There was controversy over the conduct of the committee in selecting White and over his insistence that the marble be sculpted in Italy, rather than in Australia. But on Empire Day 1907 the memorial was unveiled on a raised mound near Linlithgow Avenue in the Queen Victoria Gardens. The lieutenant governor of Victoria, John Madden, unveiled it.

Possum in the showers day

Look what I found in Flagstaff Park, This poor possum got no shelter in the rainy  day

Possums are marsupials.This means the young are born after a short time and are very tiny and undeveloped. They crawl up their mother's belly and into a pouch where they stay and finish their development. Possums are nocturnal, which means they are active at night. In the day, they sleep in tree hollows so I was pretty lucky to get this photo even it's not a clear photo. You have to imagine me, one hand I hold camera and another hand hold an umbrella. Oh well, I want this shot and I don't want to get wet even the fine shower.

There are many different species (kinds) of possums in Australia. If you would like to see more please click this link : species of possums in Australia

Sculpture after rain

The Court Favourite 

Paul Montford 

Bronze statue with granite pedestal, date unknown 

Flagstaff Gardens (Melway ref. 2F, A1) 

Paul Montford was born in London in 1868. He studied at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Arts and immigrated to Australia in 1921. Montford was responsible for a number of commissions in Melbourne, including the statues of Justice George Higinbotham and poet Adam Lindsay Gordon. For the latter he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. 

Montford's The Court Favorite captures the action of a lithe youth playing with his boisterous pet lion cub. The cub crouches low and tugs fiercely at the youth's cloak. In his right hand the youth clasps a decorated baton, its handpiece a carved elephant head. 

Councillor Baron Marks donated the statue to the Melbourne City Council. He had initially donated £200 towards statuary for Melbourne's parks and gardens, but when The Court Favorite became available he increased his donation to £400. The work was unveiled at a formal ceremony on 6 February 1930.

Quite day in Flagstaff Park

Flagstaff Gardens is the oldest park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, first established in 1862. In 2005 it is one of the most visited and widely used parks in the city by nearby office workers and tourists

Feel fresh when you in the park