Dear Editor, Mruya’s town sign's missing ‘O’ may be hiding behind the 'P&O' Tom Bass sculpture in Hunter St., Sydney. The Shire town signs and the P&O building (since replaced) have a connection that they’re architecturally challenged. Photographed on the front page of the OZ magazine No. 6 February 1963 (a thought provoking publication not unlike the Beagle Weekly actually) the P&O building was described “..to alleviate the severe drabness of its sandstone facade sculptor Tom Bass has set an attractive bronze urinal in the wall for the convenience of passersby.” …"Pictured is a trio of Sydney natives P&O’ing in the Bass urinal.” So perhaps our missing ‘O’ has P’d off to Sydney seeking inspiration. Name and address supplied
Editors Note: There are many in the community who would happily cock a leg on the follys we have at the entrances to our main towns. The Beagle has attempted to discover which officer/councillor/committee approved the Eurobodalla town sign designs - possibly either the design the was given out to primary school art classes for some trophy or reward however the winning school seems to have never been announced. It was bought to the attention of the General Manager during Public Access that there was public opinion that their new town signs sucked - bigtime. Below is an extract from Toby Whitelaw's presentation to Council 26 July 2016 If Council had invited community feedback, or consulted the Public Arts Advisory Panel, someone might have picked up some of the many problems with them while still at the design stage. If the signs were a maximum of 3.5m2, they might not have cost $118.614.80 plus installation ($47,000). The result of this poorly considered design process is the six enormous, illegible signs of faux stone that stand as a welcome to the main towns of the beautiful place I call home. I would love Council to replace the signs with compliant ones, perhaps using genuine local stone and designed by a trained design professional who understands the Eurobodalla, but I realize that this would cost even more than the $167,000 already spent. I don’t think replacing them would be a good use of public money, but obviously this decision must be made by Council. I would like Council to acknowledge that in this instance the policy has not been adhered to and that in future it won’t develop policies it intends to ignore. Ever the teflon coated and indifferent response was provided to the highly critical observations made of the drab civic erections with the General Manager noting: We appreciate you have differing views in regards to various aspects of the recently erected town signs. Our view is that Council has abided by its Town Entry Signs Policy, and the process utilised involved community representation through the three Chambers of Commerce and Council itself. Danthonia Designs is a reputable company well experienced in town signs design.We note Council has received significant positive feedback from the community and the Chambers of Commerce on the new signs. Nevertheless, we value and appreciate your alternative opinion on the aesthetics and design of the town entry signs. Have a read of Toby Whitelaw's presentation where the General Manager takes it upon herself to apparently override the policies and guidelines of Council and appears to be totally indifferent nor apologetic for having done so. One might ask what is the point of councillors, policies, guidelines or even Public Arts Advisory Panels if the General Manager can do as she wants. At no point has anyone done a follow up to Mr Whitlelaw's observations that the signs are in fact contrary to Council's codes and guidelines to which he refers.
