On Prime Ministers Avenue in Ballarat's Botanical Gardens, there are some notable absentees.
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While the avenue starts with the bronze bust of Sir Edmund Barton, who became the country's first prime minister in 1901, it stops abruptly at 2015.
With Tony Abbott as the last prime minister to have his bust on the pedestal, there are now two prime ministers unrepresented in Australia's only sculpture garden dedicated to the country's leaders.
With the high turnover in the top job over the past decade, the original fund for the statues - part of a bequest from Richard Armstrong Crouch, a politician in the early 20th century - had dried up.
Mr Crouch funded the first six busts, while his legacy was intended to part fund sculptures of subsequent prime ministers.
However, with the lifespan of prime ministers not being quite what it was in Mr Crouch's day, the pressure on funding had increased.
Now Catherine King, Ballarat's long-standing federal representative, has called upon the coalition to help fund the statues so the tradition can continue.
In a press release, Ms King said: "The City of Ballarat has been good enough to contribute funds for the latest statues and for upkeep, but this is a monument to national leaders and the national government should contribute the funds necessary to ensure the Avenue remains relevant into the future."
"This fight for funding has gone on for too long. It is time for the Government to commit to ensuring that Prime Ministers' Avenue can continue to tell our nation's political history in perpetuity."
Mr Abbott's bust was funded by the City of Ballarat Council. There is still no sign of either Malcolm Turnbull or the current incumbent Scott Morrison, although a council confirmed that Linda Klarfeld had been commissioned to create the Turnbull work.
It has massive community importance. We're thrilled that Catherine has taken this up.
- Elizabeth Gilfillan, Ballarat Botanical Gardens Foundation
A council statement attributed to the Mayor Samantha McIntosh read: "City of Ballarat welcomes any assistance, including from the Federal Government, to fund this important and iconic project.
"There has been interest from members of the community to fund busts in the future and the City of Ballarat is open to exploring this possibility."
It also put the cost of each bust at around $30,000, and said the funds had run out after the Gillard statue.
Ms King made the request for funding after an approach from the Ballarat Botanical Gardens Foundation.
Elizabeth Gilfillan of the foundation said that the fund had been "depleting more with the multiplicity of prime ministers."
"We would like to see it safely perpetuated," she told The Courier.
"It's such an important national icon, and we would like to see the funding secured for the future for Ballarat."
"It has massive community importance. We're thrilled that Catherine has taken this up."
Surprisingly, perhaps, there have only been five artists so far for the 28 existing sculptures.
The sculpture Wallace Anderson created 14 of the earlier leaders, while the cartoonist and artist Peter Nicholson moulded many of the more recent additions, including the busts of Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Linda Klarfeld became the first female artist whose work features on the avenue after her bust of Tony Abbott was unveiled two years.
The first sculptures appeared on the avenue in 1940.
This is not the first time federal funding has been mooted, with councillors reportedly considering making a request back in 2014.
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