Iconic sculpture missing, feared stolen from Gold Coast beach

New CCTV camera images have emerged pinpointing the time frame in which an iconic Gold Coast beach sculpture was snatched by brazen thieves.

The Sun Spirit sculpture in its rightful home at Currumbin Beach.

Now you see her, now you don’t.

New CCTV camera images have emerged pinpointing the time frame in which an iconic Gold Coast beach sculpture was snatched by brazen thieves.

The life-size bronze statue of a bikini-clad sunbather, called Sun Spirit, has reclined on a timber plinth on Currumbin Beach for almost two decades.

But the beloved and much-photographed sculpture mysteriously disappeared last week, sparking a police and Gold Coast City Council investigation.

A CCTV camera atop the neighbouring Rocks Resort has identified that Sun Spirit vanished sometime between 6pm last Wednesday and 6am on Thursday.

The CCTV image (left) with the statue, and (on right) the one taken hours later after the statue’s disappearance.

He said the resort’s main surveillance cameras were recently repositioned and did not capture the sculpture’s actual theft.

Police are now looking to other CCTV cameras in the area for clues to Sun Spirit’s disappearance.

The sculpture, which weighed about 100kg, was bolted and padlocked to the plinth.

Gold Coast sculptor Frank Miles, who created Sun Spirit for the 2006 Swell Sculpture Festival on Currumbin Beach, has said he is “absolutely devastated” at the theft.

Mr Miles, 79, told The Courier-Mail he had modelled the sculpture on his daughter, Bronwyn.

“I’m gutted, it’s like losing a child,” he said.

“You put everything into a sculpture – a lifetime of experience, emotion and passion. It’s not just the physical work that’s involved.”

Mr Miles said thieves had stolen or attempted to steal other public art pieces he had made on the Gold Coast.

The empty Sun Spirit platform this week.

They included a sculpture of Beryl Carnell, founder of iconic Gold Coast nightspot The Playroom, which was stolen from the banks of Currumbin Creek in 2021 before being found badly damaged.

“Sun Spirit will probably be cut up and sold as scrap metal to some unscrupulous dealer for a few hundred dollars,” he said.

“The sculpture today would be worth between $60,000 and $80,000. It’s probably the most photographed sculpture in Australia.

“The theft that is happening these days is terrible and it seems nothing is sacred or safe. It doesn’t matter how secure it is, if someone is determined enough, they will steal it.”

Local celebrity surf reporter Nick Atkins has offered two cartons of beer for Sun Spirit’s return.

The iconic statue before its disappearance.

One resident posted a picture of the bare timber platform on which the sunbather sculpture once reclined, with the caption: “What happened to our sun spirit?”

Area councillor Gail O’Neill said on Monday she was “devastated and shocked” after investigations revealed the sculpture had most likely been stolen.

“It was inspected after the cyclone by Council and found it had no damage,” she said.

“It has not been removed by Council for any maintenance.

“I have asked the Parks Division to report this to police for investigation.

“To say I am devastated and shocked to think anybody would do this would be an understatement.

“Our Sun Spirit has been part of Currumbin Beach for many years and she has been stolen from her home. Whoever did this, please do the right thing and return her!”

It was acquired by the city council for $20,000 as a permanent installation on the beachfront.

“She (Sun Spirit) has a serene look on her face and it is safe, durable art,” festival director Kylie Mitchell-Smith said at the time.

“It is very site specific and such a true depiction of the female form.”

Originally published as Iconic sculpture missing, feared stolen from Gold Coast beach