Ballarat war hero to be cast in bronze

ARGUABLY Australia’s greatest World War I hero, Brigadier General Harold Edward ‘Pompey’ Elliott will be immortalised in bronze for a new Sturt Street statue.Elliott, a Ballarat bred and educated army general, lawyer, and politician served with distinction in WWI.Chairman of the Ballarat Foundation James Coghlan said the history of ‘Pompey’ Elliott touches many Ballarat residents.“Although he was born in Charlton he is a son of Ballarat,” Mr Coghlan said.Mr Coghlan’s grandfather landed in Gallipoli alongside Elliott and later fought under him on the Somme.Australian sculptor Louis Laumen – best known for his athletic statues surrounding the Melbourne Cricket Ground and for the Ballarat statues of Sir Henry Bolte and Sir Albert Coates – has been commissioned for the work.The statue will go on the east side of the rotunda in Sturt Street, facing the Coates statue.Mr Laumen yesterday unveiled photographs of a clay model of what the finished bronze sculpture would look like. They show a proud and strong Elliott, who gives the impression, Mr Laumen said, of “a man you wouldn’t want to mess with”.The statue has been made possible through a donation from Tattersall’s and with support from The Ballarat Foundation and the City of Ballarat.