Perth Voice Interactive

A SEVENTY-FIVE year old mistake will soon be corrected with the statue of renowned WWI general and famous architect Talbot Hobbs to be returned to Perth city council.

For decades it had been assumed the statue of Sir Joseph John Talbot Hobbs on Riverside Drive was owned by the city, and so it spent tens of thousands over the years cleaning and maintaining it.

When work started on the Elizabeth Quay development a closer scrutiny of old documents found the half-million-dollar monument had belonged to Mainroads all along, a body not known for maintaining public art.

Back in 2013 lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi said it was “disrespectful” to leave Hobbs’ statue in the middle of the Elizabeth Quay construction site, surrounded by debris while heavy machinery whizzed by and coated it with dust.

Ignoring Ms Scaffidi’s pleas for a fast-tracked move it took the Barnett government four months to shift it to the supreme court gardens.

Given the PCC spends thousands maintaining it, it was keen to see ownership formally transferred. After 10 months of inter-governmental chinwag it looks like that will happen soon.

The statue was commissioned in 1939 and when on Riverside Drive faced one of Hobbs’ major commissions (the Weld Club) and was the receiving point for the ANZAC Day parade salute for decades.

by DAVID BELL