Paddy Hannan's Statue, Town Hall

Statement of Significance

AESTHETIC VALUE The statue has appeal in the manner in which the sculptor has depicted the man as an ordinary hard-working prospector and not as a larger than life heroic figure. This depiction is reinforced by the placement of the statue at pedestrian level rather than it being elevated on a pedestal. The statue adds interest to its immediate surroundings as an art object. It is possible that the finer aspects and details of the sculptor's modelling may have been lost due to repeated repairs to the original metal work. The statue has value as an art object. HlSTORIC VALUE The memorial bas historic value for its commemoration of the discovery of gold in 1893 by prospector Paddy Hannan . Hannan's discovery led to the foundation of Kalgoorlie and the establishment of the Golden Mile. The gold rush that followed resulted in the 1890s gold boom which brought tremendous economic prosperity to Western Australia. SCIENTIFIC VALUE The statue has the potential to reveal an industrial technique that is no longer practised for constructing bronze statues. SOCIAL VALUE The statue and memorial has value for the community as a reminder of the events that led to the foundation of the town of Kalgoorlie. The funds to create the statue were raised by public subscription and the favoured design was submitted by a local schoolboy. The contractors who undertook the work were a local firm of monumental masons. Both the original and the copy of the statue of Paddy Hannan have value as examples of the works by two Western Australian artists of some note. RARITY Both works are unique to each other and no other examples exist. There are only two other known sculptures by John McLeod, and this is the only full figure sculpture by McLeod that is known to exist. The work has rarity value as a pre World War II sculpture in which the person being commemorated is depicted as a common man rather than being elevated in the tradition of public sculpture. REPRESENTATIVENESS The memorial is representative of commemorative structures erected to celebrate a person or event in the history of a town or the state.

Physical Description

There are two memorials of Paddy Hannan, the original 1929 memorial which was moved from its outdoor street site in 1982 to the foyer of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, and a replacement located on the pavement outside the Town Hall, the site of the former statue. The original memorial consists of the harrunered and built bronze statue of Hannan dressed in his field kit holding a water bag. He sits on a rough square-shaped granite boulder with his right foot resting on a block of polished wood. His pick-axe rests against the boulder on his left hand side. There is a commemorative plaque on the proper right side of the boulder. The cast bronze copy is identical in its details except for the base. The statue sits on a block of stone resting on a base of two concrete steps. The original water fountain or 'bubbler' has been replaced with a modem chrome and rubber fountain which has been inserted into the corner of the waterbag. One section of the base upon which Hannan sits differs in that it appears to be made up of a conglomerate of rocks imbedded in concrete. There is a metal plaque attached to the boulder. Inscription: (original) 'Centenary of Western Australia 1929 This memorial fow1tain was erected by public subscription in honour of the late Patrick Hannan who first discovered gold at Kalgoorlie, 15th June 1893.'

History

Assessment 2001 Construction: 1929/1982/3, repairs to original 1982/3 Designer: John Mcleod, sculptor Builder: Baker & Mathews, monumental and general masons, Wunderlich & Co During the State's centenary year of 1929, Kalgoorlie's Goldfields Committee decided to act on a proposal to erect a memorial to the late Paddy Hannan, the man attributed with finding the first gold nugget that established the mining town of Kalgoorlie. That event occurred on 15 June, 1893 when Hannan was prospecting with his companions Thomas Flanagan and Dan Shea. Designs were called for and money raised by public subscription. The chosen design was submitted by Baker and Mathews, monumental and general masons of Kalgoorlie, in conjunction with the Perth based sculptor John McLeod. McLeod's original design had the statue of Hannan standing on a pedestal holding the nugget of gold. However, the design by a local schoolboy, Keith Craig, to have Hannan sitting and offering his waterbag to passers-by appealed to the committee which adopted this idea for the memorial's design. The bronze work was undertaken by Wunderlich and Co. The memorial fountain was erected on the pavement outside the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, on the corner of Hannan and Wilson Streets, and unveiled on 11 October 1929. The technique developed by Wunderlich & Co for making bronze statues did not requ ire casting in a foundry (see notes in History section). The process resulted in a thinner shell of metal which meant the fabric of the statue was not as rigorous as it could be. By 1982, the statue was in such a poor state of repair that a decision was made to remove the statue and have a bronze copy made. This was undertaken by Cottesloe sculptor Peter Gelencser. The statue was then restored and relocated on its original base in the foyer of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall. The more durable copy was then installed on a new base on the original site. During the State's centenary year of I929, Kalgoorlie's Goldfields Committee decided to act on a proposal to erect a memorial to the late Paddy Hannan (died Victoria 4/1111925), the man attributed with finding the first gold nugget that established the mining town of Kalgoorlie. That event occurred on 15 June, 1893 when Hannan was prospecting with his companions Thomas Flanagan and Dan Shea. Designs were called for and money for the memorial was raised by public subscription. The chosen design was submitted by Baker and Mathews, monumental and general masons of Perth Kalgoorlie, in conjunction with the Perth based sculptor John McLeod.1 McLeod's original design had the statue of Hannan standing on a pedestal holding the nugget of gold. He had argued that this would protect the statue from the attentions of stray dogs and vandals. However, the submission of a local schoolboy, Keith Craig, to have Hannan sitting and offering his waterbag to passers-by appealed to the committee which adopted this idea for the memorial. McLeod adjusted his design accordingly. An amusing story told by McLeod in relation to the competition was his belief that Hannan's pack-horse should have been the one to be honoured with the memorial because it was the horse that kicked up the nugget from the ground in the first place. 'My first impulse was to go to the committee and point out that this was a case of mistaken identity, a prompting of the Irish element in me to see fair play, or to start an argument, possibly a fight. Then my Scottish ancestors took control and said, "John be careful! Suppose this committee have heard the rumours that have been about that all artists are mad? If you start to tell them what they ought to do, perhaps they'll think this one is, and you may lose the job. ' The bronze work was undertaken by Wunderlich and Company in their Lord Street factory in Perth. According to one newspaper article of the time, McLeod had suggested 'the boulder be obtained from the deepest level being worked in the mines at the present moment, and so inscribed to give a centenary touch to the memorial and invite a comparison between modem methods of gold-winning and the ways of Hannan's day suggested by the waterbag, panning-off dish, and prospector 's pick wh ich have their place on the monument.'3 The memorial fountain was erected on the pavement outside the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, on the comer of Hannan and Wilson Streets, and unveiled on 11 October 1929. The process for making the sculpture of Paddy Hannan is described in Building and Construction as follows: From the clay model, matrix have to be taken in plaster of Paris - in this case dozens were taken and from these matrix dies have to be made from which in tum dies are cast. At this stage Wunderlich craftsmen shape the heavy sheet bronze roughly into each metal die so as to ensure that the metal is not stretched, thus depriving it of its thickness. After this process each die is placed under the drop hammer, a matrix is cast in hard lead and antimony alloy and the final stage of shaping is then reached by thunderous blows of the drop hammer. When each piece has undergone this process, they are trimmed to a fraction of an inch so that when assembled no join ts are visible and the result is a perfect copy of the original clay model, so perfect in fact that the canvas of the original clay bag, the weave of the hat band, boot laces etc. are as pronounced in the heavy metal as in the real tbing.4 Apparently the hat for the statue was provided by Em Richardson, one of Wunderlich's employees. McLeod had to work from a fo1mal photographic portrait of Hannan in which he was bare headed so he bought a new bat from a shop in Wellington Street which was later described as 'too good' for a prospector. According to a 1983 newspaper account, the work was undertaken by Harry Mitchell and Lou Wright who were sheet metal workers at the Wunderlich factory. They had, ...made the plaster casts from (McLeod's) clay model, and then made the upper cast of lead and the bottom cast of zinc. Using a mechanical drop hammer, they formed the statue out of 16 gauge copper sheeting. They said they were assisted by Mr Stan White, who was the foreman sheet metal worker at the factory. The statue was made in a number of pieces, and the final task of fitting the jig-saw together fell to the late Mr Bill Mathews of Rivervale. This was a formidable task for in one hand alone there were I 0 pieces, and they all had to be meticulously soldered together.5 Other sculptures made by this method include the South African War Memorial and the AMP group modelled by Pietro Porcelli. The technique meant that fabricating a bronze sculpture could be undertaken locally, rather than have the plaster primary shipped overseas for casting. The 1911 C. Y. O'Connor statue in Fremantle by Pietro Porcelli was cast in Italy, possibly at the Neapolitan Artistic Foundry where the F.H. Piesse memorial in Katanning (also by Porcelli) was cast.6 No local foundry appears to have been capable of undertaking such work until the Talbot Hobbs Memorial was cast at the Premier Engineering Works in Perth in 1940. However, the process appears to have resulted in a less than robust statue. Unlike other works undertaken by Wundertich, the Paddy Hannan statue was at pavement level and more vulnerable to vandalism and accident - factors McLeod had been well aware of. Also, constant repairs and possibly rubbing of the surface had thinned the metal. By 1982, the statue was in such a poor state that a decision was made to remove the statue and have a bronze copy made. This was undertaken by Cottesloe sculptor Peter Gelencser.7 According to Gelencser, '... it was a wonder it survived so long because of the flimsy material that was used. It was dented everywhere, and splitting at the searns.'8 He also noted evidence of earlier repair work which had included removing the legs and arms for strengthening inside. A duplicate of the statue was made by Gelencser with the casting undertaken at the E. & G. Foundry in Fremantle. The statue was then restored and relocated on its original base in the foyer of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall. The more durable copy, 'seven times heavier at 250kg',9 was then installed on a new rock base on the original site in 1983. The original memorial was assessed by the National Trust and listed as 'Recorded' on 8 March, 1976. It is currently registered as part of the Hannan Street Precinct with the Australian Heritage Commission, and proposed for registration as part of that precinct by the Heritage Council of WA. The memorial is listed on the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder's draft Municipal Inventory.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update