Arabic version: هوبارت تنشئ حديقة وحلقة برونزية عند قاعدة تمثال كروثر

According to ABC News, the City of Hobart has unveiled a permanent replacement for the statue of William Crowther in Franklin Square: a native garden within a bronze circle around the vacant plinth. The ring is inscribed with three accounts addressing Crowther and colonial life, William Lanne and Palawa history, and the role of statues in public memory.

The original statue was cut down at the ankles by vandals in mid-2024, hours before the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld the council’s decision to organise its removal. Crowther, a 19th-century surgeon and politician, is widely held by historians to have taken the skull of deceased Aboriginal man William Lanne from a morgue for pseudoscience.

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the installation followed more than five years of community consultation and offered a fuller account of Hobart’s past. Architect Mat Hinds said the garden referred to the site’s history as an open flowering field before colonisation. He said the bronze referenced both the original statue and Lanne’s work on whaling ships, while the circular design invited visitors to walk around the garden and read the inscriptions.

Palawa and Warlpiri writer Nunami Sculthorpe-Green contributed text focused on Lanne and Aboriginal life in Tasmania during the 1800s. History writer Alison Alexander wrote about Crowther, while arts writer Andrew Harper addressed the toppling of statues. Each contribution on the ring was limited to 250 words; longer versions can be accessed through a QR code and the City of Hobart website.

Dozens attended Tuesday’s unveiling in support of the project, while four protesters held signs opposing it. Councillor Louise Elliot described the removal as an erasure of history. The restored Crowther statue is in City of Hobart storage, and Ms Reynolds said there were no plans for it at this stage, although people could request to see it.