A recent survey by lobby group of found – as opposed to fictional or mythical characters – despite both the state government and the City of Melbourne pushing for better representation of women.
The Kylie Minogue statue being moved from its original Docklands home.Joe Armao
Despite the gender imbalance in the statues around the city,several statues of leading women have been packed away without a permanent home in Melbourne.
Kylie Minogue’s statue cast in bronze,dressed in a lace bodystocking and electric red heels,was to make way for a $140 million 18-storey apartment block and has been languishing in a locked storage container since then.
A spokeswoman for Development Victoria said both Kylie Minogue and Dame Nellie Melba’s statues created by sculptor Peter Corlett were removed from New Quay in the Docklands as part of an “ongoing development”.
“The statues are safely in storage with Dame Nellie Melba set to soon be moved to a new home,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the final destination of the Dame Nellie statue was yet to be determined and had no further information on the fate of Minogue’s.
A statue depicting was installed in Federation Square in 2019 but is now also in storage at a NAB data centre in Kew.
Tayla Harris unveils a prototype of her upcoming bronze statue at Federation Square in 2019.Getty Images
A spokesman for NAB said the statue was made from non-durable materials.
“A permanent bronze statue of Tayla is currently being sculptured in NSW and will be installed in Docklands as part of a redevelopment,” he said.
of Indigenous athlete and politician Nova Peris was unveiled at Federation Square in July as a part of the Statues for Equality initiative but will be removed next month and taken to the Essendon Football Club in Tullamarine.
Professor Clare Wright is leading the campaign for more statues of women in Melbourne and across Australia.
The La Trobe University historian said the lack of statues of women was a problem because it added to the “respect gap” in Australian civic and political life.
“When all of the people that we appear to consider significant and important and valuable enough to commemorate are male that sends very strong messages,both to women and to men about who is worthy of respect,” she said.
Nova Peris unveils the statue of her at Federation Square in July.Chris Hopkins
The Victorian government last month established a $1 million fund for women artists to create more statues of women and the City of Melbourne has also backed more diversity in statues.
Melbourne has a stockpile of statues in storage at the moment with explorers Burke and Wills and all out of action.
Deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece said he was not aware of the existence of the mothballed statues of women and did not know the owners’ plans for them but he wanted to see more statues of women.
“Melbourne should celebrate its heroes,people who have made a difference,people who we can look up to and aspire to be like,” he said. “As an inclusive city we also need to celebrate the fact that heroes come in many forms. At the moment,the most grossly underrepresented category of person amongst Melbourne’s memorials are women – 50 per cent of the population,less than 10 per cent of the memorials.”
Federation Square chief executive Caroline Ralphsmith said the square would “readily consider” being home to a permanent statue of a woman.
“As a heritage-listed precinct,civic space and home to renowned cultural institutions,Fed Square would first undertake a consultation process before confirming any decisions on permanent installations,” she said.
Melbourne’s nine permanent statues of real women
Source:A Monument of One’s Own
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..