By Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T [/dropcap]he last cross to adorn the Fletcher Jones silver ball in Warrnambool is being restored to light up again at Pleasant Hill from next month – but not on top of the ball.

Instead the cross, which has been in storage at the Warrnambool City Council depot since 2010, will be located somewhere within the gardens as an illuminated artistic installation.

The cross has already been returned to the new owner of the Fletcher Jones complex, Dean Montgomery, who plans to have it lit up by December 1, in time for the Fletcher Jones Christmas Garden Party on December 14.

Dean told Bluestone in an email interview that it was time for the cross to be returned to the site, but it was unfortunately logistically impossible to return it to the top of the ball.

 “I am not sure if it will ever be on top of the ball again, as all of the fixings have been removed several years ago,” he said.

The silver ball, however, will be completely repainted either later this year or early next year.

The return of the cross – which replaced an original wooden cross in the 1980s – is a symbolic milestone in the revitalisation of the iconic site, part of which will house a new Warrnambool Motor Museum from next year.

Dean said he was on track to open the first stage of the museum before July with up to 50 exhibits – expanding to more than 150 vehicles by 2016.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] I [/dropcap]nternal rooms have been demolished, asbestos removed, windows and roofing replaced and new walls and toilets added. Ironically, one of the biggest clean ups involved removing more than 1000 old car tyres dumped in the buildings.

“The first stage will be next year and then whilst that is open, the larger area will begin being renovated,” Dean said.

He said the public response to the motor museum had already been “huge” – its new Facebook page attracted hundreds of likes within hours – and he believes it will become a major tourist attraction for the city.

“I think it will be really interesting and a real drawcard for people visiting Warrnambool. I really have a love of all things automotive and in all forms.”

The museum will feature a number of exhibits from Dean’s own personal collection, including vintage, classic and sports vehicles, and racing cars driven by the legends of Australian motor racing including Peter Brock, Alan Moffatt, Dick Johnson and Sir Jack Brabham.

For Dean, the story behind each car is as important as the car itself, so even a total non-motoring enthusiast should find it a challenge not to get caught up in the collection.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] W[/dropcap]hile the Warrnambool Motor Museum is being developed, the existing secondhand markets are also in for a makeover and will be relocated to a larger, one-level space that will see a wider range of products.

“I want it to be much more then just a vintage market,” Dean said.

“Probably a mix of vintage, antique, craft, art etc. I would like to see some locally made new products within the market too.”

There are also plans for a new cafe/restaurant, and an expansion of the existing Factory Arts space to accommodate more tenants.

Outside, head gardener Lex Caldwell, who has kept the gardens alive mostly through volunteer labour, now has more funds to restore the garden beds and furniture, and repair fountains that were no longer functioning.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] D[/dropcap]espite the cost and enormity of the whole task, Dean, who is a Geelong-born, self-made millionaire now based in China, said he had “found the whole experience so far fantastic” and the people of Warrnambool friendly and helpful.

He was particularly impressed by the work of local builder, Jeremy Porter, who is coordinating most of the clean-up and build.

There is still one “missing” item, however, that Dean would dearly love to add to the site’s revival.

“What I would love to find is Fletcher Jones FJ Holden that I believe he used to drive.

“Wouldn’t that be great to find and have it restored within the museum?”

Check your old sheds: it just might be in there.

[box]The Fletcher Jones Christmas Garden Party, coordinated by the F Project, will be held on Sunday December 14, 11am-3pm, with artisan stalls, live music, food, children’s activities and – naturally – a visit from Santa. Meanwhile, work is also progressing on securing funds to record some of the Fletcher Jones stories from within the community.[/box]

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OPINION – Carol Altmann

If there was any doubt as to how much the Fletcher Jones Pleasant Hill site in Warrnambool means to locals, the recent spring picnic has laid it to rest.

Around 1500 people flocked to the gardens last weekend to wander among the market stalls, listen to the music, stretch out on the grass and – like so many thousands of children and adults before them – take pleasure in the many garden delights that Sir Fletcher Jones created in his factory grounds.

Cr Jacinta Ermacora has leapt on this huge wave of support to announce today in the local newspaper that she thought it was “time to tell the Fletcher Jones story”, and a meeting would be held shortly between all of the interested parties to work out how this could be done.

What Cr Ermacora failed to mention, or was not reported, was that the council was first asked to collect these stories way back in 2002, when it was a key recommendation in a report it commissioned into the future of the Fletcher Jones site.

What has been done by anyone on the council since then?

Absolutely nothing.

There is also a vast amount of precious Fletcher Jones memorabilia cast about Warrnambool, with some in History House, some at The Artery, and some in people’s private homes, that needs to be collated, assessed and preserved for future installations.

What has any council member done about that so far?

Absolutely nothing.

In the interim, as people age, and pass away, the stories are being lost and the memorabilia is getting harder to trace (and let’s not forget that many items ended up in a skip bin when the site was first sold by the council in 2005, only to be retrieved by artists).

This is why a small group of people, led by Julie Eagles from the Warrnambool Planning and Heritage Group, has been asking the council for months whether there is any funding set aside in this year’s budget to at least start the process of gathering these stories.

It was hard to get a clear reply.

Bluestone got a reply on Thursday and this is it in full:

“We have no funding specifically allocated to telling the story of Fletcher Jones in this year’s budget.

However, the history of Fletcher Jones and other elements that tell the story of Warrnambool will be on the table when the time comes to look at public art as part of the city centre renewal.

Once we have the foundation stage of the renewal plan completed – which addresses issues including accessibility and mobility – we’ll be engaging the community in a discussion on public art.” – Nick Higgins, Manager Communications.

So how much funding is there for the Fletcher Jones story project?

Absolutely nothing.

By contrast, Melbourne University has already started work on collating and recording the business story behind Fletcher Jones and Melinda Barrie, from this project, has shown a willingness to work with local groups to capture the local stories.

It is embarrassing, to say the least, that a Melbourne institution has been more motivated and excited by our local, contemporary history than our own council.

And by contrast to the council’s inertia on what we might call the whole Fletcher Jones package – the stories, the site, the potential – last Sunday’s picnic was a triumph of what can be done through hard work, passion and belief.

Not only did it showcase the magnificent efforts of resident gardener Lex Caldwell and his team of volunteers who have kept the gardens alive, but it was a celebration for all those other volunteers who believed that the best parts of this iconic site were worth saving.

Those who pressed hardest to keep Pleasant Hill on the public radar – Julie Eagles, The F Project arts collective, us here at Bluestone Magazine, and the consequent Save the Silver Ball and Fletchers Gardens Facebook page started by Tonia Wilcox – all did so without any official backing.

Similarly, the spring picnic was organised within weeks by The F Project/The Artery without a cent of funding and relied heavily on volunteers who pulled it all together – people like Dr Emma Charlton, Megan Nicolson, Des and Helen Bunyon, Ruby Richardson, Danielle O’Brien, the Factory Arts crew, Julie Eagles – the same names that keep coming up time after time and who continue to make exciting things happen around the city.

They don’t sit around waiting for others to do something: they just get on with it.

The F Project, for its efforts, made less than $400 on the day from a raffle, but it was never about raising money. It was all about bringing life back to the gardens through the arts, but you can’t keep expecting volunteers to do all the heavy lifting.

And so it is with the capturing of the Fletcher Jones stories.

The funding is there: it’s just how the council chooses to spend it. 

It recently found $10,000 on short notice for the Oddball movie, and another $3 million of state and council funds are about to be plunged into sound and light shows at Flagstaff Hill.

So unless Cr Ermacora can come to the meeting armed with a firm proposal for council funding, it is nothing more than hollow words on the back of very successful picnic and that – unlike a pair of Fletcher Jones’ scissors on the factory floor – just won’t cut it.

[dropcap style=”color: #abccab;”] O[/dropcap]ur campaign to restore the Robert Ulmann whale mural in Warrnambool has provided an opportunity to remember one of south-west Victoria’s most prolific artists, who died 15 years ago this November.

Despite Robert’s enormous contribution to the local art scene as a painter and sculptor during the 30 years that he lived in and around Warrnambool, it is quite difficult to find any formal, public recognition of his work, beyond that which he created himself.

This includes his studio and gallery overlooking the ocean on Hopkins Point Road, Warrnambool, which is still managed by his wife, Helen and daughter Justine, and was built after their Naringal property (and Robert’s studio) was completely destroyed in the devastating Ash Wednesday fires of 1983.

It also includes Robert’s contribution to Warrnambool’s public artworks, which is arguably greater than any other single artist.

There are four Ulmann sculptures dotted in high-profile locations around Warrnambool and two privately commissioned murals that are also in very public spaces, but a search of the Warrnambool Art Gallery website reveals very little about the man or his work.

As an aside, do you know where to find the Ulmann sculptures and murals in Warrnambool?

[learn_more caption=”Click here to find an Ulmann work:”] 1. Fletcher Jones Gardens, basalt sculpture, Memorial to Sir David Fletcher Jones.

2. Warrnambool breakwater, basalt sculpture, The Breakwater Centenary Sculpture.

3. Flagstaff Hill, lake side, The Lady in the Wind, Mt Gambier stone.

4. Warrnambool Art Gallery, exterior, The Australian Fur Seal, basalt sculpture

5. Bojangles Restaurant, Warrnambool, mural

6. Flaxman St milk bar, Warrnambool, mural [/learn_more]

[dropcap style=”color: #abccab;”] R [/dropcap]obert, who was born in Switzerland, was a larger-than-life character who created an impression on all those he met, even if it was one of slight terror at the sight of what has been described as his “fierce” beard which would bob up and down during his highly animated way of talking.

His arrival in south-west Victoria in 1969 made the local news at the time and Warrnambool historian, Jenny Fawcett, has kept a copy of the clipping from The Warrnambool Standard in which it was reported that “an interesting personality” was visiting the district with his locally born wife, Helen (Goldstraw).

Robert, it said, “has had an adventurous life, painting and drawing his way through 21 countries,” that included Canada, where he first met Helen, who was working as a school teacher at Coppermine in the Canadian Arctic. It was here that Robert worked closely with the Canadian first peoples, the Inuit.

The Ulmann’s spent two years criss-crossing North and South America and then wended their way down through the Pacific Islands before finally reaching Australia. They settled in Naringal in 1972, having first spent a couple of years working in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

With all of that experience, and all of that adventure, no wonder Warrnambool – at times – would have struggled to contain a personality as large and dynamic as Robert’s, but he came to call the seaside town his home.

[dropcap style=”color: #abccab;”] A [/dropcap]uthor Penny Olsen dedicated her 2001 book, Feather and Brush: Three Centuries of Australia Bird Art (2001), to Robert Ulmann, who passed away during its production. In it, she describes how Robert worked “from nature, fast and with gusto”.

Robert loved to capture the energy of both animals and people as he saw them in the moment, not after the fact. It was not unusual to be talking to Robert and find that, halfway through a conversation, he would start sketching a portrait of you.

It was Robert’s passion for Australian wildlife, however, that won the hearts of so many of his followers.

He not only painted, sketched and photographed the beautiful creatures around him, he often invited them into his home which became a refuge for homeless and abandoned birds, mammals and marsupials.

In 1980, The Age newspaper ran a page 3 story about the Ulmann’s being the first people in Australia – and most likely the world – to hand-raise a baby echidna that developed a fondness for crawling up Robert’s trouser leg.

When asked why he loved to work on Australian animals, Robert told the reporter in typical style:

“You know why? They’re bloody hard to get hold of, specially the marsupials. They’re all nocturnal. That’s what makes the challenge…and people love furry things – specially the ladies.”

Robert died suddenly at the age of 71 on November 1, 1999.

[box type=”bio”] The Robert Ulmann studio is at 440 Hopkins Point Rd, Warrnambool ph: 03 5565 1444 or email: eubalena@westvic.com.au. Free entry.[/box]

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[dropcap style=”color: #a5cecd;”] T [/dropcap]he mystery of the missing Fletcher Jones cross has been solved, and, unfortunately, the ending is not pretty.

As we wrote recently, the very first illuminated cross that sat on top of the Fletcher Jones silver ball water tower in Warrnambool every Christmas and Easter for about 20 years has not been seen since it was removed from the ball sometime in the 1980s.

The replacement cross – made of aluminium – has also since been replaced by a newer, more eco-friendly illuminated cross that no longer tops the silver ball, but the Warrnambool Uniting Church in Koroit St.

One of the few people who knew the first two crosses intimately was Brian Fitzgibbon, who worked at Fletcher Jones’ for 15 years as a leading hand in the maintenance department.

“It was made of galvanised iron folded over, with fluorescent lightbulbs running up each of its sides, that were then covered in perspex: all of which made it very, very heavy,” Brian said.

The cross, which was made by Bill Lovell and Alan Beales, was winched into place before each Christmas and left until after Easter, but one year things went awry.

“It was blowing an absolute gale, harder than it’s even blowing today,” Brian said.

Amid the atrocious conditions, the cross was hauled into place but, Brian now confesses, he forgot to fully secure one of the toggles that held the cross in place.

“So the wind is working away, working away, and the toggle is getting looser and looser and eventually the cross crashed completely on its side,” he said.

The cross broke in half from the fall and was partly dangling over the side of the silver ball in a spectacle that was apparently captured by the local newspaper, The Warrnambool Standard.

Unfortunately Brian can’t remember the exact date that it happened, but he does remember the awful guilt at having not fully secured the toggle.

“I will admit it, I am the one to blame,” he said.

The damaged cross was relegated to the skip bin and a new, aluminium cross – the one now in storage at the Warrnambool City Council depot – was hastily assembled to appease a very unhappy public.

“We modelled the new one on the star that they used to have at the Warrnambool Drive-In, which had lights all around the outside,” Brian said.

“It was so, so much lighter and easier to handle.”

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[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] W [/dropcap]ith the former Fletcher Jones factory in Warrnambool officially changing hands last Thursday (19/6), there has been a renewed focus on tracking down the iconic, original fixtures in the hope that they can be returned to the site, including the very first FJ cross.

New owner, the Geelong-born, China-based businessman Dean Montgomery, has indicated his willingness to restore the garden furniture and features, including what we call ‘The Man in the Pressed Pants’, but who was formally known as ‘the FJ man’, who once stood so proudly in his pleats at the front of the property.

The man, unfortunately, is now a broken shell of his former self. What does remain, however, has been enough to inspire Mr Montgomery to consider commissioning an artist to rebuild his legs and restore him to his full glory.

Another iconic piece of the original factory that is proving harder to trace is the original Fletcher Jones illuminated cross that was winched up the silver ball water tower each Christmas (and removed after every Easter) to cast its comforting glow across the city.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] S [/dropcap]ir Fletcher Jones was a socialist Christian, or what might now be called a left-leaning Christian, who believed the cross would provide a gentle reminder of the role of Christ around an increasingly consumer-driven Christmas.

The cross was first erected when the silver ball was built in 1967 and, it is understood, was literally plugged into a powerpoint on top of the silver ball and ran off a timer.

At some time in the late 80s (nobody we spoke to was exactly sure when), this cross was replaced with a much lighter, aluminium structure that had light bulbs mounted along its sides.

This newer cross continued to be placed on the silver ball each year, right up until 2010 when the deteriorating condition of the ball made it unsafe.

In a now infamous move, the Warrnambool City Council (WCC) – who had taken over responsibility for the cross – found a new home for it on top of a west Warrnambool water tower, owned by Wannon Water.

The cross had barely been lit, however, before it was removed by Wannon Water after a single complaint by a resident, Graham Keith, who claimed that it was “religious advertising” on “public property”. (Mr Keith must have been apoplectic during all of those years that Sir Fletcher Jones and his family kept “advertising” their religious beliefs).

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] A [/dropcap]fter a fierce backlash to the decision by Wannon Water to remove the 2.5m tall cross, the WCC found a new home for it on top of the Uniting Church, in Koroit St, not far from where Fletcher Jones once ran his clothing store, “The Man’s Shop”.

The cross, however, again proved to be a safety hazard due to its basic lighting system. This cross – the second FJ cross – was retired and placed in council storage and a new, smaller cross, with environmentally friendly LED lighting, was built for the church to use.

What became of the original 1967 cross, however, remains a mystery, despite our attempts to track it down*.

The Uniting Church has certainly had never seen it, and the WCC only have the second cross in storage.

WCC media spokesman Nick Higgins sent us the following words about the mystery:

“Our infrastructure chief thinks the wooden cross may have its origins in the 1960s. It’s possible it was replaced with aluminium, not because it was rotten, but because aluminium was lighter and easier to install. But we don’t know for certain – this was at a time when the council was not closely involved with FJs.”

Perhaps a reader can help to fill in the gaps?*

* We now know the answer – see story here.

[box] Former Warrnambool City Council planner and photography enthusiast Lisa Gervasoni is one of the few people to photograph the cross on all three structures. Lisa no longer lives in Warrnambool (although she maintains close ties), but she kindly gave us permission to reproduce the three images below:[/box]

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