By Neil McMahon
The first time Burke and Wills set off from the centre of Melbourne for parts unknown, 15,000 people turned out on a Monday afternoon to bid them goodbye. Now, 157 years later, the explorers are on the move again – again on a Monday, though in the dead of the night – but this time we can be sure of seeing them again.
At 1am on Monday morning, a team of experts will begin the delicate task of uprooting the landmark statue of the pair at the corner of Swanston and Collins streets as Melbourne's oldest piece of public art makes way for the massive construction project for the $11 billion Metro Rail Tunnel that is taking over City Square.
The Burke and Wills statue on the corner of Swanston and Collins streets. What will be its fate now that metro rail tunnel works have begun.Credit: Penny Stephens
Eddie Butler-Bowdon, collections manager for Melbourne City Council, said that while the statue had known four homes on city streets since it was first displayed in 1865, this would mark its longest period off public display since its debut.
Mr Butler-Bowdon said the statue was the first bronze cast in Melbourne and probably in Australia. It was originally funded partly by public donations amid the outpouring of grief that followed news in 1861 that the Burke and Wills expedition to Australia's unknown far north had ended in their deaths.
"[The statue] has been moved around because simultaneously it's a really important high-profile piece for the city and because of that it's been always located at places where subsequently that land becomes in demand. It's like a bellwether for major projects," he said.
As historical figures, Burke and Wills were first heroes and then later occasionally the butt of humour as symbols of poor planning and inevitable disaster.
Mr Bowdon-Butler said our changing relationship with their story partly explained why the statue had remained such a potent piece of public art.
"It has been in our heads for a long time but I don't think it's always been in our heads in quite the same way," he said.
"In the 19th century it was all about Victorian heroism. Then with Federation it passed in a different way into national mythology, and in the latter half of the 20th century it evolved into that tragicomic phase … it's a story that reflects us over that whole period."
The council had considered leaving the statue where it was during construction of the rail tunnel. "It was looked into [but then] it became apparent the magnitude of the hole that has to be dug for the station."
There was also the option of moving it to another location.
The Royal Society of Victoria – which commissioned the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860 – made a submission that the statue be moved to its land at the corner of LaTrobe and Exhibition streets but the council decided it should go into storage for eventual return to its Collins Street home.
Mr Bowdon-Butler said it was likely to be in storage – at an unknown secure location – for five to six years.
The pre-dawn removal will be overseen by a professional conservator working with stonemasons and crane operators. The delicate operation involves cutting open the joints of the statue with diamond saws; removing the lower plaques that tell the Burke and Wills story; lifting the bronze figures from the top; removing the floral skirt; moving the upper plinth pieces; and freeing the foundation blocks. Trucks will then ferry Melbourne's most famous explorers to their secret new home.