Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Campbelltown

Campbelltown, now a suburb/district captured as part of greater Sydney, is 50 kms southwest of the city centre. The Tharawal Aboriginal people lived here for 40 000 people. In On 1 December 1820 Campbelltown was named and founded by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. His wife, Elizabeth's family name was Campbell.

In the decades following World War II Campbelltown gradually change from a town, surrounded by rural land to a suburb of Sydney, with the development of new suburbs along the rail line towards Campbelltown.

This sculpture in Mawson park is of Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie. It was unveiled on 5 August 2006. The sculptor is renowned artist Tom Bass.

Bass’s statue depicts Elizabeth Macquarie with a sunbonnet, apron and watering can, and surrounded by a bed of irises. Bass gained inspiration for the statue from local historical reports, which said Mrs Macquarie was known to have given bunches of irises to local settlers when accompanying her husband on his official visits. I'm glad I was there today in Iris blooming season!

The Anglican church in the background, St Peters, dates from 1823.

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for the explanation, the sculture is beautiful

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  2. merci pour la decouverte de ce grand sculpteur, je ne connaissais pas, mais je viens de decouvrir ces oeuvres sur son site, elles sont superbes. Et merci pour tes commentaires sur ce post


    thank you for the discovery for this large sculptor, I did not know, but I have just discovered these works on his site, they are superb. And thank you for your comments on this post

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  3. This is an excellent post and the statue is lovely to look at too.

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  4. Nice statue. I like this one alot.

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  5. Just beautiful. The white irises are perfect with the wonderful sculpture. Thanks for fascinating commentary.

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  6. Hope all is well with you Sally, and you're still able to have a bit of time to yourself.There are so many wonderful historic corners of that area, and it's good to know they are being showcased.

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  7. Thanks for your lovely comments Next time I go I'd like to get there earlier so that the sun is in a different place and I can capture her face. It just wasn't possible no matter which-way I went this time!

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  8. This is just so adorable. My mother is an avid gardener. I wish I could get one of these sculpures (maybe a miniature version) for her garden. :)

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