Warrnambool wraps its arms around Christchurch. We embrace flowers, not guns.
You can add whatever you have in your garden, whenever you like. This living vase of hope at the Civic Green will be there until Friday (March 22), a week from when hate again tried to break us, but failed. #newwarrnambool #oneworld #lovenothate #holdmyhand
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.
[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).
[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.
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:
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[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] T [/dropcap]he closure of Warrnambool’s iconic Capricorn Records later this month will not pass without an encore.
A limited-ticket, public tribute to the iconic record shop – which opened 35 years ago when records were still records- is being planned for Saturday night, September 20 at the Ozone Room, Warrnambool Hotel.
The tribute will be hosted by the Warrnambool Spinners, which is a fluid but enthusiastic collection of locals loyal to vinyl records who regularly get together to spin selections from their collections and dance until the early hours.
Capricorn Records owner Mick Fitzgerald is a Spinner, but he had no idea the tribute night was being planned and, to those who know Mick, he is not one for leaping into the limelight – unlike one of the people he physically resembles, Mick Jagger.
But as one Spinner told Bluestone, this tribute is not actually about Mick, it’s about Capricorn Records.
The shop has has been integral to the local live music scene and in broadening the musical tastes of those who grew up buying the “latest Top 40 single” and coming away with, at the very least, subliminal exposure to the Rolling Stones, Dylan, Van Morrison or whoever else was being played on the shop turntable at the time.
[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] M [/dropcap]y how times have changed, but Mick knew the writing was on the wall.
When Bluestone – before we were Bluestone – visited his shop back in the early 2000s, he spoke about the emergence of mp3 players and digital music. Then along came streaming…
Capricorn eventually moved out of its Liebig St location, which was previously Kris Kerr Records (and is now Kathmandu), into the much smaller Koroit St store.
But even that shop has proven too big for the seismic shift in how we buy and consume music. It is impossible to stop change, but it doesn’t mean we can’t mourn the passing of an era.
Capricorn Records will close on September 26.
[box] There will be only 100 tickets available to the Capricorn tribute night, at $5 per head. As a Bluestone reader, you have early access to tickets before they are offered to the wider public. Simply email royreekie@googlemail.com and say you read it in Bluestone to reserve a place.[/box]
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