A FAMILIAR figure has made a welcome return to the Wynnum-Manly area more than three decades after it vanished in a brazen act of destruction.
The original marble digger statue, which proudly stood atop the Manly War Memorial at Richard Russell Park since 1921, was infamously ripped down by vandals in 1990, dragged to the ground with a chain hooked to a car in an attack that horrified locals.
With a marble replacement priced at a jaw-dropping $32,000, the Manly-Lota RSL eventually settled for a concrete stand-in, which was finally installed in 2007.
The long-lost original was restored by Iona College just in time for Remembrance Day last week.
The fragments of the original marble statue, sourced from the Carrara quarry in Italy, the same quarry used by Michaelangelo, had been long forgotten until members of the Manly-Lota RSL tracked them down in a Brisbane City Council depot in Lota.
Iona College former Rector Father Michael Twigg learnt of the discovery and made it the school’s mission to restore the historic statue for the community, getting stone mason and Old Boy of the college, Dan Gill, involved in restoring it in 2022.
The school’s Communications Manager Michael Westlake was also recruited to manage the project, and with assistance from Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Federal Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh, and a Saluting Their Service grant, worked through approvals to get the restoration project underway and unveil the statue at the college’s Remembrance Day service.
“As we went on, it got tougher and tougher as we got tied up in red tape, and ultimately it was the Lord Mayor who took a personal interest in it and understood the significance of this monument to our community and just how important it was and gave it the last shove we needed for things to happen,” Mr Westlake said.
“Then the hard work began for Dan.
“He was so meticulous with his craftmanship, for the marble repairs sourcing marble from Carrara, the same quarry the original was sourced from and sourcing sandstone for the base at Helidon, the same quarry the original came from.”
Old Boys of the school who are veterans and Members of the RSL joined the school to unveil the restored statue at the school’s Remembrance Day service with Valma Jones, the niece of the model for the statue Private William “Bill” Henry Dodd who was a member of the Manly-Lota RSL.
“Val was very emotional because this is one of the last connections that her family have to her uncle, so to see this statue brought back, better than it ever was, was a really touching moment,” Mr Westlake said.
“As much as everyone at the college understood the significance of the memorial to the community and how much it meant to people, on Remembrance Day, to see the old veterans become genuinely emotional at the site of the statue made the years of hard work so worthwhile.
“They were emotional about seeing it, but also immensely grateful to the college that we had taken on this project and been able to bring the fallen digger back to life and have him returned to his place of overlooking and keeping watch over our community.”
