The City of Ballarat hosts one of the most significant regional public art collections in Australia. Valued at over $20 Million, the oldest piece in this collection was erected in 1867, about 156 years ago. Creative City treats the Public Art Collection as an outdoor gallery with its collection on permanent display. After a careful assessment and valuation of the collection, a proactive maintenance plan has been devised and is currently being implemented.

New Projects Requesting Expressions of Interest

The current projects in progress are listed below:

Boer War Memorial

A project is currently in progress for the removal of the current work and deaccession of the original, and the like-for-like replacement of the work with a bronze cast of the original Boer War Memorial (1906) by James White located in Sturt Street Gardens, Ballarat.

Comprehensive assessment of the sculpture including a radiographic survey, videoscope internal investigation and structural engineers report were completed in 2020 and some remedial conservation works were completed. This however did not resolve all the issues with the sculpture and the sculpture is deemed to be beyond repair. The work is therefore now being deaccessioned and a like-for-like replacement is to be installed at the original site.

The essential works in scope include:

Removal of the copper plated Boer War Memorial from the plinth and travel to a repair and assessment site (Melbourne)

Deaccessioning of original work

Commission a cast of Boer War memorial in bronze, restoration, and replacement of the missing foot

Return to Ballarat and reinstate to plinth.

Hercules and Stoddart Collection

Hercules was installed in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in 1884. It is a white marble statue and plinth with a granite base and lead alloy inscription. The statue of Hercules exhibits severe structural instability with multiple breaks and failing repairs. In mid- 2023, to prevent further damage, Hercules was removed from the Botanical Gardens and is now housed at the ICS premises where it is going through a detailed conservation process. The works include (but not limited to):

Replacement of doweling systems in breaks
Introduction of fibreglass wedge between statue and plinth
Consolidation of cracks and losses and replacement of failing repairs
Repointing

The rest of the Stoddart Collection currently onsite at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens is also undergoing conservation works. It is expected that the conservation works will be completed by the end of September.