Maltese Corner Mackay project sculptor named

There’s been a major announcement in the two-year-long campaign to erect a memorial at the ‘Maltese Corner’ where migrants started meeting 80 years ago to lend each other support.

Carmel Baretta, president of the Maltese Corner Fundraising Group, on site at the corner of Victoria and Wood streets, Mackay. Picture: Andrew Kacimaiwai

There’s been a “huge step forward” on a project that will honour Mackay’s rich Maltese heritage.

Local artist Kay Paton has been commissioned to complete three sculptures on the corner of Victoria and Wood streets in the Mackay CBD known to some as the “Maltese Corner”.

The announcement made at a recent Christmas fundraiser follows two years of campaigning spearheaded by Maltese Corner Fundraising Group president Carmel Baretta.

“That (announcement) was a huge step forward for us,” Mrs Baretta said.

“We were going to ask her to do one (sculpture) but we did so well with our fundraising, we decided to make it three.”

Carmel Baretta with a plaque marking the meeting place on the corner of Victoria and Wood streets, Mackay. Picture: Andrew Kacimaiwai

In 12 months, the group raised $220,000 out of a $300,000 target on the back of generous donations by local families and a $15,000 grant.

“The sculptures will be life-size and in bronze,” Mrs Baretta said.

The statues will be based upon a 1994 photograph by Joe Caruana, from J & J Photography, of a group of Maltese men who met regularly at the corner.

“One of the men is still alive. Close family of the other two will model (for the others),” Mrs Baretta said of the sculptures.

“These three men are representative of the entire Maltese community.”

She said a group of Maltese migrants began meeting on the corner twice a week in the 1940s and it continued to this day, in one form or another.

“They were all illiterate. They’d meet to support each other,” Mrs Baretta said.

The plaque with a photo of the group meeting. Picture: Andrew Kacimaiwai

Her father, Sam Bezzina, was among that group. He arrived in Australia in 1930 while her mother arrived in 1923 as a young child.

“They also helped locals financially and with farming advice; most of them were farmers or local businessmen,” she said.

Sculpting is expected to start in January 2023 and the three statues are due to be completed by April 2024.

The project will also include plaques and lighting at the corner.

Mackay Regional Council recognised the corner as an important historical site with its inclusion in the Mackay Heritage Discovery Trails.