Destroyed statues of Aborigines ‘a little weird and racist but a permanent loss’

Storms in Victoria’s hills region have partly destroyed a popular tourist destination, leaving questions about what will be restored in it’s place.

An Aboriginal sculptures in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges damaged during the recent floods.

Marcia Langton has called the destruction of Aboriginal sculptures in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges a great loss, even though they would not survive the modern zeitgeist.

Parks Victoria has revealed 32 out of 92 ceramic statues of Aboriginal people including children have been damaged in the William Ricketts sanctuary after apocalyptic storms swept through the region in the state’s east and left it blanketed in fallen mountain ash trees in June.

Indigenous voice to parliament co-chair Professor Langton said after more than 100 homes were destroyed, restoration of the sanctuary was not likely to be a priority. “Without being too pessimistic, (I think) it’s a permanent loss,” Professor Langton said.

“I do think it’s something of a national treasure, even if it’s weird and racist in many ways. It encapsulates a particular kind of humanitarian take on Australia’s race politics at that time,” she said.

Before storms hit the tourist destination on June 9, Ricketts’s original residence including his stone studio and kiln were damaged, Parks Victoria district manager Victoria Purdue said.

“Many large mountain ash trees have fallen and the area remains dangerous for the public – the sanctuary will need to remain closed as we carry out significant work needed to make it safe.”

Professor Langton co-wrote an academic paper about the sanctuary in 2003 that said while the sculptures represented Ricketts’s idealistic mission to “save the spirit of a people”, they perpetuated stereotypes and presented Aboriginal people as “heavy-browed” and with “broad nostrils”

William Ricketts sanctuary severely damaged in Dandenong Ranges storms. Picture: Supplied.

The sanctuary opened in 1964 and its statues were inside a thick glade just off the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, about an hour’s drive from Melbourne.

Ricketts was a ceramicist from Richmond, Melbourne. Born in 1898, he became mentally ill and believed he could be assassinated after he lived through two world wars. He bought land and lived on the southern slope of Mount Dandenong from May of 1941.

Yarra Ranges council indigenous development co-ordinator Garry Detez said the statues represented a snapshot in time. “It’s an opportunity for the William Ricketts people to work with the local traditional owners, the Wurundjeri people, and determine what stories could be told,” he said.