William ShakespearePrint Page

The sculpture commemorates English author William Shakespeare. It was presented by L. F. North, General Manager of the Fidelity Trustee Company Limited, representing the late H.P . Stevens as one of the benefactors whose generosity enabled the Statue to be erected.  

The sculpture was commissioned from Hungarian-born Australian sculptor, Andor Meszaros, at a cost of £4000. At the time it was claimed that the large bronze statue was only the second Shakespeare Memorial to be erected in Australia, and that it was unusual in that it was the first cast in Australia - previously all such castings have had to be sent to England or Italy.

The proposal to erect a sculpture of Shakespeare in Ballarat stemmed from a movement in 1889, when a committee was formed and a meeting held to inaugurate the proposal. At the initial meeting 258 pounds was contributed to the fund, which was later built on by further donations. In 1935 the fund stood at 945 pounds. In 1939 a bequest of 100 pounds was received from the estate of the late Frank Gale. In October 1952, the Fidelity Trustee Company Limited notified of an extract of the will of Harry Pearson Stevens, in which be bequeathed the sum of 2,000 pounds to the fund for its erection.

The sculpture was intended to complement the statues of the Scottish and Irish "National poets," Robbie Burns and Tom Moore, in Sturt Street.

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