ROLF HARRIS’ commemorative plaque on St Georges Terrace is to be pulled up with nary a word, with laconic Perth councillors unanimously voting Tuesday night for its removal.
The chamber was near-silent as lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi presented her motion to remove the 1959 plaque “due to community concerns relating to the guilty verdicts relating to Rolf Harris”. Councillors endorsed it without comment.
Bassendean council’s also pulling up Harris memorabilia following his child sex abuse convictions. His portraits have already been pulled down from council chambers.
While WA disowns its once-revered expatriate, Harris memorabilia is still selling strong in the UK, with at least one seller claiming a price rise is on the way. Someone in Somerset is selling an original painting on eBay for $1000, warning “don’t miss out probably your last chance to obtain work from this great artist before prices rise”.
A signed book titled “Beastly Behaviour” is going for $800.
One seller was blatant about the cash-in, admitting they’re jumping onboard “the ghoulish practice of cashing in on memorabilia related to a celebrity on the occasion of that celebrity’s death or (as in recent years), their ignoble fall from grace and subsequent incarceration”.
The seller, flogging an old Commodore 64 program featuring Harris, describes the item’s condition: “The package’s friendly exterior hiding a grubby set of operating instructions serves as yet another laboured metaphor for the title subject—as well as my current commercial exploit.”
Current bid: $9.50.
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
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