Reece Harley 26/10/21 Reece Harley 26/10/21

Statue of John Curtin

Artist: Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith

Asset Type: Memorial/ Permanent

Year of Work: 2003

Location: John Curtin Place, Kings Square. Town Hall end of High Street Mall

Provenance: City of Fremantle

Description: Perhaps the most iconic of Australia’s prime ministers, John Curtin is bound to ordinary Australians by his working class roots and trade union advocacy, but most importantly as Australia’s war-time voice. Although Victorian by birth, Curtin made Western Australia his home in 1917 where he became an editor for a union press.
He joined federal parliament in 1928 as the elected Member of Fremantle. He became leader of the Labor Party in 1935 and prime minister in 1941 in the midst of war with Germany and Italy, with troops deployed in fronts in the middle-east and Europe. Weeks after his succession Australia was pulled into a war in the Pacific.
Curtin’s decisions strengthened relations with the United States, as their interests were directly threatened by Japan who had attacked ports in Australian and allied ports around the pacific.
Curtin died in office only weeks before the formal ending of the war in the Pacific. As Western Australia’s first and only prime minister, John Curtin is commemorated at King’s Square in Fremantle.

Image Source: Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Reece Harley 24/8/21 Reece Harley 24/8/21

Energia

Image Source City of Karratha — Photographs and Information Courtesy of City of Karratha

Artist: Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith

Year of Work: 2012

Location: Dampier Highway and Bayview Road Nickol WA 6714

Asset Type: Sculpture

Provenance: City of Karratha

Reece Harley 12/8/21 Reece Harley 12/8/21

Kangaroos (Phase 2)

Artist: Joan Walsh-Smith & Charles Walsh Smith

Asset Type: Public Art

Year of Work: 1998

Location: St Georges Terrace, Southern side, near Stirling Gardens

Asset Type: Public Art

Provenance: City of Perth

These life size bronze kangaroos are a realistic representation of how kangaroos might behave in the bush. You can imagine the mob being startled from its quiet feeding by the sound of traffic and bounding away, led by the large male. The sight of the kangaroos bounding at full speed along the pavement of St George’s Terrace makes a surprising contrast to the backdrop of the CBD.