WHITTLESEA has lost its claim on a world-renowned statue which would have made it an Australian icon of multiculturalism – and it was free.
The bronze statue called Multicultural Man would have completed a set of five installed world-wide. Once the statue was made the mould would have been destroyed.
Whittlesea would have been the fifth and final custodian of the statue, along with: Toronto, Canada; Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Changchun, China; and East London-Buffalo City, South Africa.
Italian artist Francesco Perilli offered it as a gift four years ago and the council put aside $40,000 to ship and install the work.
The proposed statue was a three-metre high faceless man in the middle of circles which depicted the earth, and was a symbol of peace and multiculturalism.
But council has abandoned the project.
“In 2008, Perilli began work on a fifth Multicultural Man sculpture and offered to donate the piece to the City of Whittlesea upon completion,” a council spokeswoman said.
“However, while council retained a budget for this project for a number of years, unfortunately the artist was unable to complete the work.”
