Whyalla. Hummock Hill and Flinders Lookouts.

Road Trip Day 10: 1st June 2007 (Afternoon)

Hummock Hill was here on the beach front in 1978, yet I don't remember it at all. In fact Whyalla used to be called 'Hummock Hill' before they changed the name to Whyalla for reasons no one really seems to be sure why?

I'm fairly certain the Hummock Hill lookout was built after 1978 as most of the dates on the commemorative plaques are dated long after my family left for Perth. This particular lookout provides some great views of the Iron Ore loading facility and the One Steel Steel works. It seems to have been built to celebrate the towns industrial history.

Second to that is the section of the look out dedicated to the soldiers that manned an anti aircraft gun on the site during world war 2. A similar gun to that which was used now stands as a monument to that time. It was thought that the Japanese could've attacked the BHP port which supplied Australias defence forces with steel during this period.

Of all the sights on our road trip to Perth, the only one I had on my list was the Flinders and Freycinet Lookout. The photo in the brochure showed two very contemporary looking sculptures of Mathew Flinders (who surveyed and named Spencer Gulf in 1802) and Louis Claude de Freycinet (who also charted the same coast line in 1803) that caught my eye and got me interested in wanting to see them up close.

Whilst the lookout offers fantastic views I found the two sculptures more interesting and thought them to be a fitting dedication to both the English and French expeditions to chart the coastline of South Australia.

As an artistic statement the two figures help to bring history into the minds of a modern audience by their non-classical design. They are intriguing to look at and you can't help but be interested in reading the information boards to find out more about the two historic men they represent. In my opinion this monument hits every mark in both purpose and design. The only let down is that I didn't see (or couldn't find) the name of the artist that created the figures.

Whilst I wouldn't like to see all monuments take this lead with 'puppet like' figures it does represent a new way of thinking about public sculptures dedicated to real people. For this particular lookout the figures work a treat. I'm glad I had this on my MUST SEE list.

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