Last week our Committee was alerted to damage inflicted on the Memorial by a vandal. The nurse component of the Memorial had been sprayed painted. This is the second time since its unveiling in 2015 that the Memorial has been defaced with paint. Local resident, urban historian and former Mayor and Councillor Janet Bolitho let is know.
Sadly our sculptor - Peter Corlett OAM - on being informed about the damaged, lamented that this is not uncommon on public sculptures.
The Committee would like to express its thanks to all at the City of Port Phillip who acted so swiftly to repair the damage. We would particularly like to thank Justin Gayner, the Programming & Curatorial Lead at the City of Port Phillip - and of course the restoration workers who completed the repairs. Well done. Thanks to the Council's Sandra Khazam too for her on-going support. The community thanks you for your efforts.
It is important that graffiti or other attention seeking acts like this are removed quickly to limit the "5 minutes of fame" of the perpetrator. They obviously have no appreciation of the work and funds that have gone in to create such a work, all by community volunteers.
As a mark of appreciation for her diligence in alerting us to the damage last week, the Committee has presented Janet Bolitho with a complementary copy of our book - Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed. It is only through local people like Janet that our Memorial can be monitored. Thank you Janet.
And thank you to all our friends and supporters who contacted us to offer assistance and express disgust at the damage to one of the few Memorials in Melbourne to feature a sculpture of a woman.
The Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial again stands proud and ready to host this years commemorative event in August.
Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, President & Jim Claven, Secretary
No comments:
Post a Comment