Council’s Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC) are advising the Councillors at next week's Council meeting on their recommendations for:
- the installation of the Ack Weyman memorial sculpture
- the relocation of the Mick Weyman bronze sculpture, and
- the acceptance of the works as gifts upon completion.
The Memorial Sculpture Committee, a subcommittee of the Moruya Rugby League Football Club, has commissioned a bronze statue of Ack Weyman as a companion piece to the existing bronze of local footballer Mick Weyman, currently situated in Russ Martin Park, Moruya.
Ack Weyman was a community member of standing and an advocate for rugby league in Moruya, who passed away late in 2019. Ack was a driving force behind establishing the rugby league oval at the Moruya Showground which was named in his honour.
The existing Mick Weyman sculpture was submitted to the PAAC in 2011. At this time, the PAAC recommended installation at the Moruya Showground. The Moruya Chamber of Commerce preferred a more prominent site and Russ Martin Park was chosen as an interim location, with a view that the sculpture be relocated to the showground at a later date. With the death of Ack Weyman in 2019 and the new commission underway, the Memorial Sculpture Committee believe it to be an ideal time to relocate the original piece.
The newly commissioned piece is by the same local artist, Terry Fuller, who created the existing Mick Weyman bronze.
The committee has been fundraising all year and have advised that they would like to see both bronzes located at the Moruya showground, at the entrance to the Ack Weyman oval, and would like to include some landscaping to enhance the area. The proposal includes an upgrade of the existing sign with stone pillars to be placed at the project site acting as a landscape feature.
The recommendation to Council next week will seek to endorse the installation of the commissioned sculpture of Ack Weyman at the Moruya Showground, endorse the relocation of the Mick Weyman sculpture to the same site; and accept the works as part of Council’s permanent collection.
Above: Over the past few months Maree Jackson of Ocean View Photography has been involved in photographing all stages of the making of the commissioned sculpture. Here she captures images of the pouring of some of the elements of the Weyman sculpture.
