Welcome to the eleventh instalment of 'UQ by design', a 12-part Contact series celebrating the beauty and abundance of UQ's cultural assets. Join us each month as we take you on a virtual guided tour across UQ's three campuses, providing a brief overview of the pieces and where you can find them. This month, we look at sculptural features of interest.

Besides the many 'people' statues, UQ campuses host several other sculptural works of significance. For example, driving along Sir Fred Schonell Drive towards the St Lucia campus, you will see Pole, a tall wooden telephone pole created by Sydney artist Matthys Gerber (1956–) for the 2006 Turrbal-Jagera Art Project. Curator David Pestorius said that the work was “a joyous contemporary response to the burial poles of Aboriginal people in Central Arnhem Land…[however]…it is also informed by a range of cultural references…what are important are the overlaps, synchronicities and new meanings that these references generate.”

At the front of the UQ Art Museum at St Lucia is Happy ending by Sydney artist Nell (1975–). Crafted in 2006 and exhibited in the 2008 Art Museum exhibition, Neo Goth: back in black, this Noble Black granite sculpture is a simple, curved-arch gravestone devoid of text, epitaph or dates. Its only embellishment is a universal, uncomplicated face with two eyes and a smile, and epitomises the artist’s fascination with birth and death in their many forms.  The sculpture was purchased for the UQ Art Collection in 2010.

In the courtyard of the Hartley Teakle building is a sculptured plough that has been installed on a cement mount. Created by Kathleen and Leonard Shillam in the 1960s, it was painted blue with a silver shear and looked like a genuine early-style plough. It has since been repainted black. Its subject and location draw attention to the purpose of the Hartley Teakle building with its many agricultural experts conducting research inside.

And over in the St Lucia community garden, Sir Fred Schonell Drive, is a metal Wheelbarrow, fashioned by South Australian independent artist Geoff Henley and installed in 2019.

Wordsmiths Cafe, near the Great Court, is home to several sculptural pieces, in particular a series of sandstone books and bookcases carved by University Sculptor Dr Rhyl Hinwood AM CF (1940–) in 1994 to mark the cafe’s entry and acknowledge UQP authors. The four pieces feature books, words, punctuation marks, hands, pens, typewriter keys, and the names and book titles of authors such as Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Eric Rolls, Xavier Herbert, Janette Turner-Hospital, Rodney Hall, Peter Carey and David Malouf.

Nearby is the Noonuccal totem seat, also carved by Dr Hinwood in 1994, which depicts Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s family totem – the carpet snake – along with a dolphin, some eugaries and mud whelks, as well as lines from one of her poems, A song of hope. Sadly, Oodgeroo Noonuccal died in 1993 and so never saw this special seat created in her honour.

Along the back wall of the cafe is a series of author portraits, which, like the bookcases, were also created by Dr Hinwood in 1995 and 1996 to pay homage to UQP authors. The authors depicted, along with short quotations from their work, include Janette Turner Hospital (soft rot and manic growth); David Malouf (scrabble board); Thea Astley (Sun. Leaf scribble); Judith Wright (language carving all silence into meaning); Peter Carey (Crescendo, Diminuendo, Silence); and Hugh Lunn (So far, so bad).

Click on the photos below to reveal the full image

Tim Read from Tread Sculptures is responsible for the giant ping pong table, with bat and ball nearby, that can be found in the Educational Playground near the river at UQ St Lucia. Made of reclaimed steel, it was installed in 2020 to depict the games children (and adults!) play.

Finally, a paper plane – made of steel – can be found on the roof of the facilities block in the Educational Playground. Created in 2020 by Entanglements Metal Art Studio in Victoria, it represents the lighter side of life as a child.

Away from UQ St Lucia, at the Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence (PACE) precinct in Woolloongabba, are two apothecary sculptures depicting a mortar and pestle. Donated by James, Carmel and Bridget Delahunty in the 1990s, the cast concrete sculptures honour the memory of James J Delahunty, who founded Delahunty’s Pharmacy (later Costless Chemists).

And at the Moreton Bay Research Station (MBRS) at Stradbroke Island is a sculptural piece created by Jennie Truman for the Lines in the sand public art project in 2008–2010, Saltwater Wind Chandelier. Based on the patterns of the molecular structures which combine to produce saltwater – hydrogen, oxygen, chloride and sodium atoms – the stainless-steel kinetic sculpture spins in the wind, creating different patterns depending on viewpoint.

Be sure to check back in next month for the final instalment in the series, when Contact looks at some of UQ's stunning signage and shapes.

Words and concept: Suzanne Parker
Contributor: Jeremy Crowley
Artwork and design: James North
Photography: Anjanette Hudson

All artworks and artefacts mentioned in this series are located on UQ's St Lucia, Gatton and Herston campuses, and we acknowledge the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which the University stands. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.