Prime Minister's Avenue

The Prime Minister's Avenue is a collection of busts of the Prime Ministers of Australia, located at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in Ballarat, Victoria. The busts are displayed as bronze portraits mounted on polished granite pedestals. The latest Prime Minister to be added is John Howard, with Kevin Rudd expected to be added soon. [ [http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/Your_Council/Publications/Media_Releases/November/Media_Release_New_bust_for_the_Gardens/indexdl_4838.aspx New bust for the Gardens: City of Ballarat, 27/11/2007] ] [ [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/28/2103664.htm Rudd gets heads-up about Ballarat bust: ABC News, 28/11/2007] ]

History

Richard Crouch, the original donor of the first six busts, was born in Ballarat in 1868. He was MP for Corio representing the Protectionist Party 1901-1909 and the Commonwealth Liberal Party 1909-1910, and was at the time the youngest member of the House of Representatives. He also served as MP for Corangamite under the Labor Party 1929-1931.

The first six busts were unveiled on 2 March, 1940 by Governor of Victoria Sir Winston Dugan. Crouch also bequeathed funds for maintaining the project. It is claimed that Crouch's motivation for the collection was "his patronage and love of fine arts which he supported and endowed in many other ways and the influence of two parliamentary terms under the statesmen Barton, Deakin, Watson, Fisher and Scullin prompted him to return to Ballarat something of what it had given him".

culptors

"Wallace Anderson" (1888-1975 [ [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130064b.htm Anderson, William Wallace - Australia Dictionary of Biography] ] ): born at Dean near Ballarat, and is best known for his work "Simpson and His Donkey" located at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance. Anderson created the busts of Barton, Deakin, Watson, Reid, Fisher, Cook, Hughes, Bruce, Scullin, Lyons, Page, Menzies, Fadden and Curtin.

"Ken Palmer": born in 1925 at Ballarat, created the bust of Chifley during his election campaign in 1946.

"Victor Greenhalgh" (1900-1983): born at Ballarat, and is best known for his large statue of King George V which dominates the Sturt Street plantation. Greenhalgh created the busts of Forde, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon and Whitlam.

"Peter Nicholson": born in 1946 in Melbourne; best known for his cartoons in the "Nation Review", "Financial Review" and "The Age". Nicholson's works are (in chronological order) Hawke, Fraser, Keating, and Howard. Nicholson's works have followed his philosophy that the busts should impart an expression of the character of the individual.

The creator of Forde's bust is Victor Greenhalgh, with the date of 1963 written on the back of the bust., and a free content photo has been taken and will be uploaded shortly..

Criticisms

Fraser's bust was originally created by Victor Greenhalgh, however others and even Greenhalgh himself were critical of the final casting. Following Greenhalgh's death in 1983, Peter Nicholson was asked to create a new bust for Fraser, which was completed after the bust of Fraser's successor Hawke had been installed.

Nicholson believes that John Howard was dissatisfied with the size of his lower lip. [ [http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/sculpture2.php Nicholson Cartoons - Portrait Gallery] ]

Paul Keating was reported to be generally unhappy with his bust.Fact|date=January 2008

Busts

References

* [http://www.ballarathistory.org/gardpmav.html Ballarat Australia History - The Prime Minister's Avenue]
* "Heritage Places: Ballarat, a Photo CDROM for web Browsers". by David Morrison, Enfield via Ballarat