Queen Victoria – Reigned 1837 to 1901. Erected 1888 – located St James Church. Originally faced Albert but rotated to face down Macquarie Street in 1987.
Albert the Good – Consort of Queen Victoria d. 1861. Erected 1866 in Hyde Park, moved in 1987 to in front of the Hyde Park Barracks.
King Edward VII – Reigned 1901 to 1910. Unveiled on Empire Day, 24 May 1922.
William Shakespeare – Playwright b.1564 d.1616. Sculpture from 1914 re-positioned in front of NSW State Library in 1959. Features Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Portia and Falstaff (obscured).
Captain Matthew Flinders RN b.1774 d.1814 – first inshore circumnavigation (with Trim the Cat) of Terra Australis, which he preferred to call Australia. Erected NSW State Library 1925.
NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie b.1762 d.1824. A significant figure in NSW history but too many stories for this caption. Dedicated 1998 and in 2010 moved to its present location in the Old Mint.
James Cook RN b.1728 d.1779 killed at Owhyhee (Hawaii). An exceptional navigator, his skills first came to prominence in mapping the Lawrence River facilitating defeat of the French Garrison at Quebec City. He never lived to hear of the First Fleet’s arrival at Sydney Cove and must be remembered as an intrepid navigator and cartographer of the vast ocean expanse. He spent more than half of his married life at sea.
Arthur Phillip b.1738 d.1814 was the first Governor of the NSW colony, consisting of 736 convicts and 294 marines, civil officers, wives and children. This statue was unveiled in 1897, commissioned in 1888 by Sir Henry Parkes.
The J.F. Archibald Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. View from the mythical slaying of the Minotaur by Theseus looking up to the Greek Olympian Deity Apollo, god of archery, music, poetry, dance, truth, prophecy, and the sun. The water jets represent the rays of light and the horses heads, those pulling his chariot. Other themes included in the fountain are that of the goddess Diana (cover photo) and Pan. Completed in Paris in 1926 by F-L Sicard, it was unveiled in 1932.
Recently, a freedom of information (FOI) request uncovered the full 26 page “Uluru Statement from the Heart,” which goes well beyond the “one A4 pager, read in a few minutes” document to which the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese always refers.
we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender
Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow.
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
