Art and the Mermaid single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 Art and the Mermaid
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Notes

  • On April 9, 1960, sculptor Lyall Randolph placed two fibreglass mermaid statues, inspired by the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, on the Big Rock [at Bondi Beach]. One of the mermaids was chopped away by university students a month after they were installed. Public subscription raised funds to replace it.

    Models for the mermaids were Jan Carmody, Miss Australia Surf 1959, and Lynette Whillier, champion swimmer from Bronte. Heavy seas in 1974 washed one away and the other, being progressively damaged by storms, was removed in 1976 by Waverley Council and is now stored at Waverley Library.

    This short story deals with the philistinism shown by the Waverly Council who always viewed the mermaids as an administrative problem rather than as a work of art.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Quadrant vol. 45 no. 3 March 2001 Z806924 2001 periodical issue 2001 pg. 78-79
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Last amended 27 Mar 2002 14:54:36
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Subjects:
  • ca. 1960-1976
Settings:
  • Bondi Beach, Bondi, Bondi area, Sydney Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,
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