From a rock to our best-known sculpture

original piece of stone- ulmann — From this – a massive piece of bluestone weighing more than 10 tonnes… (Image courtesy of Glenn Morgan via the late David Jones).

By Carol Altmann

One of the many great things about Bluestone Magazine has been our recording of the revival of the Fletcher Jones factory and gardens in Warrnambool (having been part of the campaign to save it in the first place) and the many wonderful stories that have emerged about its past.

One of those wonderful stories is this one: the making of the bluestone sculpture commissioned by the Jones family as a tribute to the late Sir Fletcher, created by the late artist Robert Ulmann.

ulmann sculpture at fjs — To this…..the completed Robert Ulmann sculpture that pays tribute to the ethos of the late Sir Fletcher Jones. (Image courtesy of Glenn Morgan via the late David Jones).

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]he sculpture, which is now a prominent and much-loved feature of the Pleasant Hill gardens, was hewn from two massive pieces of bluestone selected by Robert from the Panmure quarry.

The two pieces together weighed more than 20 tonne and, over the course of four months from July to October 1977, Robert reduced them to two pieces weighing five tonne.

This meant, of course, hacking away 15 tonnes of solid rock in a make-shift workshop at his Naringal property (later lost in the Ash Wednesday fires).

In our March edition we revealed a rare archive of images from the personal files of David Jones, son of Sir Fletcher, who gave them to local artist Glenn Morgan eight years ago for use as inspiration in his quirky works.

Within these more than 100 images are those capturing the making of the Ulmann sculpture and most likely taken by the Ulmann family (see our slideshow a little further on in this story).

ulmann starts work — Putting his back into it: the late artist Robert Ulmann gets stuck into the bluestone with a jack hammer at his Naringal property, later lost in the Ash Wednesday fires. (Image courtesy of Glenn Morgan via the late David Jones).

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] S[/dropcap]uch was the excitement around the commissioning of the sculpture – which came just a few months after Sir Fletcher’s death in February 1977 – a memo and photographs were sent around all of the Fletcher Jones factories and shops to keep staff updated.

The finished sculpture may look like a hand holding a sewing needle, which fits with the Fletcher Jones story, but in fact it represents a germinating seed.

Working Drawings2 — Robert Ulmann’s preliminary sketches for the sculpture that represents a germinating seed. (Image courtesy of Glenn Morgan via the late David Jones).

The plaque next to the sculpture explains more:

“Viewed from the ends, the form suggests the shape of a seed – the germination of an idea and the inspired determination to develop it.”

The three-metre long “needle” points to limitless potential.

“The horizontal lines of the straight stone suggest infinite potential for exploration and expansion of the initial ideals,” the plaque reads.

The sculpture will be 40 years old next year and stands as solid and true (and as popular with climbing kids) as it did on the day it was unveiled while a new chapter of the Fletcher Jones factory unfolds around it.

Watch our one-minute slideshow of the sculpture being created below:

You might also enjoy…

Remembering the art of Robert Ulmann

Questions and stories arising from clay

Recycled timber shapes a new life: Sarah Carrucun

Taking a walk on the wild side: Brett Jarrett

WIN: Day Kitty organic fruit and vegie box

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CLOSED (Winner: Daelene Bourke)

Victoria Carey from Day Kitty cafe in Kepler St, Warrnambool, has been a strong supporter of Bluestone Magazine from day one and wants to encourage more people to subscribe so we can continue to highlight all of the many great things unfolding in the south-west.

Victoria is kindly donating a sensational organic fruit and vegie box prepared by Day Kitty and valued at $65 for us to give away to one lucky new yearly subscriber. You can read all about the Day Kitty branching into organic fresh food in our story here.

The next five new yearly subscribers will go in the draw, which means you have excellent odds!

To subscribe to Bluestone for a full 12 months for just $85, simply click below. And don’t forget all of the other great subscriber benefits including our loyalty card discounts and access to special subscriber only events.

WIN: A $50 FJ Market stall voucher

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CLOSED (Winner: Sue Frydman)

Fletcher Jones Market stallholder Eric van der Wal has kindly donated a voucher for up to $50 voucher to his stall #603 as a subscriber-only giveaway*. (*Please note, voucher must be spent in one transaction and is not redeemable for cash. Valid for stall #603 only).

Eric’s stall #603 has a range of vintage and antique items, from glassware and china, through to larger furniture. You are sure to find something you like!

To be in the draw, simply email us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au with MARKET in the subject line by Friday, March 11 at 5pm.

You can read our story about the survival and revival of the Fletcher Jones Markets here.

Thankyou so much Eric!

Open to Bluestone Magazine subscribers only. If you would like to join us for only $85 for a full 12 months, simply click below.

The Vault: WCC spends $450k and no report?

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[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://the-terrier.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/vault3.jpg[/author_image]Welcome to The Vault – this is where Bluestone will place all sorts of subscriber-access-only material. If you have something you would like to submit, please email us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au[author_info][/author_info] [/author]

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By Carol Altmann

[box]Bluestone would like to acknowledge subscriber PT for funding the Freedom of Information application used for this piece.[/box]

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] B[/dropcap]luestone subscribers will know that we cop quite a lot of flak for continuing to ask questions about the sacred cows of Warrnambool including Flagstaff Hill, Fun4Kids and the increasing secrecy and lack of transparency around how the Warrnambool City Council runs its affairs – but as long as there are huge gaps in the information, we will keep asking.

Like why is there no formal report on the 2015 Fun4Kids Festival that cost ratepayers $450,000 to run?

Bluestone has just uncovered this fact and it is staggering, irrespective of your views on Fun4Kids or whether it has picked up tourism gongs.

Anyone who has ever dealt with public funds will know that full disclosure on how that public money was spent and the results of that spending is standard procedure.

It’s called accountability.

Indeed I remember when working for the might of News Ltd that we were expected to account for every dollar we claimed when working on a story, right down to producing a receipt for a $10.50 pizza – after all, Rupert might be a very wealthy man, but he was still the boss.

Yet the Warrnambool City Council has spent almost half a million dollars of public money on an event that, until now, has always produced a full report on its budget and the festival results.

When we asked the council media manager for a copy of the 2015 Fun4Kids report, he said the key results of the festival had already been released to the media.

So, what was told to the media via the council’s media unit should be enough.

Well some journalists in Warrnambool might be happy to swallow the pre-chewed lines delivered by the council, but Bluestone is compelled to dive deeper.

So when the council told us that “about 15,000” people attended the 2015 festival and that 24% of these were from Melbourne and that they surveyed 1000 of these patrons for their views, we wanted to know more.

Can we have the full report? We asked.

Nothing was forthcoming, so we lodged a Freedom of Information asking for two things:

i) the report and/or documents prepared for the council relating to the financial results of the 2015 Fun4Kids festival

ii) the report and/or documents prepared for the council relating to the patronage, including any breakdowns or analysis on these figures.

fun4kids foi

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] A[/dropcap]fter the obligatory 45-day wait, the council’s Freedom of Information officer Wendy Clark, who is also chief executive officer Bruce Anson’s personal assistant, came back with this jaw-dropping response:

“I have found no documents that meet the terms of your request…”

This means, we must assume, that there were no reports prepared for the council.

Ms Clark then attached two documents that, we must also assume, amount to the full documentation available on the results of Fun4Kids 2015.

One was a single budget line reference and the other was five paragraphs that included not one single figure, but plenty of motherhood statements like:

“The Fun4Kids Festival achieved a positive percentage increase in the metropolitan market, while maintaining regional attendances. This outcome is a key growth strategy for the festival moving forward.”

I don’t know about you, but whenever I read those last two words – “moving forward” – I know we are deep in the river of public relations spin and far from the shores of plain speaking.

tree removal — People were outraged after a row of old tea tree was pulled out from Pertobe Rd – one reader asked for more information on why it had to be done and is still waiting.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] I[/dropcap]n a similar vein, you may remember the uproar that followed the sudden removal of a row of old tea tree along Pertobe Rd just before Christmas.

The trees were removed, we were told, after an arborist inspected them and found them to be unsafe due to infestation by a certain worm and cracking.

A Bluestone reader dared to ask more. In early January, she asked for a copy of the arborist’s report (or at least more detail) and whether the trees would be replaced.

She is still waiting for a reply, let alone any more information.

Such queries could normally be thrashed out by elected councillors in general council business, but that, as we know, has been abolished and now councillors are timed for how long they talk, even though meetings were usually over within a couple of hours.

All councillors, not just some, should be demanding more, not less, transparency on behalf of ratepayers.

The fact they aren’t, and that this sort of “trust us” mentality is gripping the council, is of serious concern to anyone who remembers that it is the ratepayers who, just like Rupert, are the boss.

Find more in The Vault here…

Trees, transparency and the truth

Wilma Wright, FOI and more

The big shed schemozzle: we follow the money

…and more

Fascinating images from FJ archive

[box]We would like to thank Warrnambool artist Glenn Morgan for sharing these extraordinary images of the Fletcher Jones’ story with Bluestone Magazine. The images, given to Glenn by the late David Jones, capture the FJ manufacturing story from the early 1900s through to the 1980s. Here follows just a sample from the dozens of images provided to Glenn. You can return to that story here.[/box]

Opening 3 — Sea views: The grand opening of the Fletcher Jones factory at Warrnambool in 1948.

Between Mt Gambier and Penola 1923 — Just begging to be interpreted by Glenn Morgan: Fletcher Jones on the road between Mt Gambier and Penola 1923.

WW 2 Window III — A classic World War II window display in the Fletcher Jones Man’s Shop.

Truck 1920 — On the road in 1920: Fletcher Jones began his clothing empire as a travelling salesman.

Parade 30s - 2 — Scenes from a Fletcher Jones fashion parade in Warrnambool in the 1930s.

Trade Exhibition — The Fletcher Jones display at a Melbourne trade exhibition: and the models are real!

B ball Team 1946 — The Fletcher Jones basketball team in 1946. Do you recognise any of these faces? If so, Glenn Morgan would love to know!

Garden 1954 — Smaller than today, but radiant. The Fletcher Jones factory and gardens at Pleasant Hill in 1954.

WW2 window — Another ‘call to action’ window display in the Fletcher Jones Man’s Shop during World War 2.

Jan 1960 - 2 — Mad Men eat your heart out: an advertising image from Fletcher Jones in the 1960.

Window - 6 — What you can do with a well presented shirt…or several. The window displays in the Man’s Shop were as memorable as the clothing itself.

B Ball Premiers 45 — Premiers: The Fletcher Jones basketball team took the crown in 1945. Do you know any of these faces?

Window - 4 — Pure style. A striking display of men’s evening wear at the Man’s Shop.

Main Sewing Room — Heads down in the main sewing room at the newly opened Fletcher Jones factory, Pleasant Hill, in the late 1940s.

Minstrel Party 50s — Minstrel parties were quite common in the 1950s – Fletcher and Rena Jones are pictured in the centre of this staff photo from 1950.

Jack Grayson - Wbool Shop — A man identified as Jack Grayson outside the former Fletcher Jones shop on Raglan Parade, Warrnambool. The stylish shop unfortunately no longer exists.

MC room 1948 — Young migrants were among the earliest workers at the Fletcher Jones factory after it opened in 1948.

Xmas Part 1950 II — The annual Fletcher Jones’ Christmas party became legendary: here is a snap from the 1950 event. Do you recognise any of these faces? Most would now be aged in their 60s and 70s.

jones gardens — Picture perfect: the Fletcher Jones gardens, factory and silver ball looking at their best in the early 1970s. The ball is 50 years old next year.

[box]If you can help identify any of the people in these photos, please drop a comment in the comments box below and we can pass the information on to Glenn. [/box]