“Imagine the helmet tipped back,the face of Britannia was not there,the stonework had weathered away. The eyes were deep sockets,there was no nose,no mouth,and so I felt slightly justified in vandalising the statue. I managed to get the pieces back in the back of my Ford station wagon,and now they are part of my garden.”
The ownership of the Hornsby Shire property where the torso resides changed hands recently and new owner Anthony Daly,also retired,visited Mr Simpson last month to see the missing parts.
Mr Simpson said:“We both agreed the parts of Britannia should be put back together but I am not going to muck up my garden so that the statue is complete in his garden. It needs to be in the public domain.
“I am suffering a bit of a guilt complex because I broke the thing up but if I hadn’t broken it up we wouldn’t be in this situation and nobody would know anything about it. The obvious place for it is back at the Fullerton Hotel.”
Mr Daly asked theHerald not to identify his property. The house and garden have listed status on the Hornsby Shire Council heritage list. He said it was dreadful that Britannia had been broken up and that it should remain at his heritage house and garden.
“I hope it will be put back together,” he said:“It is part of the heritage garden so I believe it should stay here. I would hope that the person who took the pieces would allow them to be returned.”
Of the auction,he added:“The story I heard was that there was no transfer of any funds and that his removal of portions of the statue was based on a non-authorised person,the auctioneer,saying,‘Yeah,you can have it.’ The auctioneer had no authority to give it away,it was part of the garden.”
Tim Smith,director of assessments at Heritage NSW,said if the statue was still on the roof of the GPO Building,now the Fullerton Hotel,it would be part of the state-listed property and protected by the Heritage Act.
“The statue speaks to the grandeur of the building,it’s an amazing piece of Sydney’s history,” he said. “Heritage NSW recognises its significance and would like to work with all parties to see if there is a conservation outcome. We would certainly support opportunities to recover the statue as something that the public can enjoy and celebrate.”
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Margaret Monger,a heritage tour guide at the Fullerton Hotel,said she thought the hotel would be an appropriate home for the statue. “The hotel has demonstrated a commitment to the building’s heritage since they purchased it in 2017 and I think it would be fitting for Britannia to return home to 1 Martin Place.”
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