City history stands tall
Every city has public art that reflects its history. New York has the Statue of Liberty, Copenhagen has the statue of the little mermaid in a nod to Hans Christian Andersen, and local Victorian city, Shepparton has Moooving Art — an ever-changing public exhibition of life-sized 3D cows reflecting its farming heritage.
From the Wathaurong people, to Portuguese explorers and notable white settlement identities, Geelong’s bollards trace the history of our region.
The painted icons guide visitors along the foreshore walking/cycling track from Rippleside Park, through the Geelong waterfront to Limeburner’s Point and the Botanic Gardens.
The bollards depict many of the events and history of the Geelong, from the times when the local Wautharong People were the only inhabitants right up to modern times.
More than 100 bollards stretch along our waterfront. There is Eureka Stockade leader Peter Lalor, English explorer Matthew Flinders, former Prime Minister John Howard and Eastern Beach surveyor Ian McDonald.
A bollard is actually a sturdy, short, vertical post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats.
Our bollards are made out of huge wooden pylons, many recovered from the Yarra Street Pier, which was destroyed by fire in the 1980s. The wood was first sculptured and then painstakingly handpainted.
Artist Jan Mitchell (1940 – 2008), was the creator of the Geelong icons. While the bayside bollards are synonymous with the Geelong waterfront, they were first launched on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Mitchell took the idea to Geelong council, after unveiling her first bollards in Barwon Heads, which feature a troop of soldiers. They can be found along Geelong Road near the school crossing. These became the inspiration behind the Geelong Baywalk Bollard project.
Mitchell was also honoured in 2006 when she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her work on transforming the Geelong waterfront.
The bollards were produced in a huge warehouse in an old woolstore on the waterfront, where the new Deakin University school of nursing is located near Cunningham Pier. The program started in 1999 and took several years to complete. Much research went into every detail of their design. The looks, clothing, artefacts and highlights all represent something about Geelong.
Mitchell’s assistant, John Starr, who worked closely with her and carver Pieter Roos, is now the guardian and keeper. The professional signwriter is responsible for the maintenance of the bollards.
Over the years, he has had to fully replace three bollards that were spoiled by advanced timber rot, while wood chipping and repainting tasks have him down on the waterfront several days each week. RABBITS! RABBITS! RABBITS! RABBITS are one of the quirky features painted on many of the bollards. They are symbolic of the wild rabbits introduced into Australia, that now wreak havoc on the landscape and agricultural industries.
A pair of rabbits arrived in Corio Bay in 1859 for hunting purposes and bred like, well, rabbits.
As the rabbit had no natural predator in Australia, their population exploded. Statistics say there are now around 300 million rabbits in Australia causing untold damage to the environment.