Ancient warrior in need of TLC

PERSEUS has been taken away for treatment after vandalism saw yet another appendage snapped from his marble body.The statue, which for 50 years has sat outside the former law courts in Camp Street, was removed early yesterday morning.Vandals have damaged the statue a number of times in recent years, with the most recent attack resulting in one of the statue's arms being snapped off at the elbow.The arm was later found in a nearby gutter but the hand is still missing.City of Ballarat infrastructure director Jeff Haydon said the Maldon-based repairers would take several months to fix Perseus.He said the arm would be restored and reattached to the statue but said there were no plans to add fingers and a penis, which have also been taken from Perseus over time.The decision to remove Perseus, which was given to the city by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1943, was made after it was inspected by statue conservator Jude Schahinger.Mr Haydon said a decision on the long-term location of the statue would now need to be made."There are certainly a lot of statues at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in a safe enclosed area," he said."That will be one of the options we are exploring."The repair work on Perseus will cost council around $7000.Mr Haydon said the vandalism was disappointing.