Parliamentary turmoil is set to add to the growing membership in Ballarat’s unique Prime Ministers’ Avenue.
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The 80-year-old sculpture garden in Ballarat’s Botanical Gardens features mounted busts (head and shoulders) of Australia’s Prime Ministers.
The problem is, they keep changing in such an increasingly rapid cavalcade the money has dwindled.
A bequest from former Federal politician and soldier Richard Armstrong Crouch (1868-1949), provided for 27 busts of prime ministers from 1940 through to 2014, but the rapid succession of prime ministers has reportedly exhausted the Trust.
Mr Abbott’s bust was unveiled in June 2017 by Linda Klarfeld, the first female sculptor to contribute to the avenue, who reportedly began the bronze model of Mr Abbott after he was ousted.
Tony Abbott received a different welcome when his bust was unveiled.
Mr Turnbull does not as yet feature.
City of Ballarat Director of Development and Planning, Angelique Lush said the City of Ballarat was “committed to continuing the legacy of the nationally significant Prime Ministers' Avenue,” and that there “are sufficient funds, allocated through the Public Arts program, for the continuation of this proud tradition.”
Given the cost of each sculpture (said to be about $50,000) changing prime ministers is costly in more ways than one.
It is, as beleagured PM Malcolm Turnbull said, “a form of madness” and “remarkable that we are at this point”.
If they could, many of those Avenue heads would surely be nodding in agreement.
