Another PM along the avenue

THE Ballarat Botanical Gardens’ Prime Ministers’ Avenue just got longer, with the installation, and unveiling, of its latest bust cast in bronze.

The statue depicts former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the 29th PM of Australia, and has been sculpted by Linda Klarfeld.

Mr Turnbull and Klarfeld visited Ballarat last week, both speaking to guests and members of the public before the big reveal, and a sculptural selfie.

Mr Turnbull joked that having his head on a plinth was “a bit of a worry,” but being Prime Minister from 2015 to 2018, and being in government, was an “enormous privilege.”

“Politics is all about helping people, and serving people,” he said.

Klarfeld said making a recognisable sculpture of someone is not just about replicating their facial features.

“It’s also about their mannerisms, their character and how people know them,” she said.

“I try to show the best of a person. My 91-year-old art teacher…suggested instead of thinking of Mr Turnbull as a public figure, to think of him as a father, husband, and make a sculpture that his family will like.

“That is the image I finally cast in bronze.”

Mr Turnbull said he hoped the avenue continues to prompt people to think about Australia’s democracy.

“When people come through here, and look through the various prime ministers, and reflect on how good, or bad, or funny, or silly they were, I hope they also reflect, as they will at the Eureka Centre, on the importance of our freedoms, the importance of maintaining them, and the importance of defending the integrity of the institutions that enable them to be realised in our parliaments,” he said.

“We cannot take democracy for granted.”