 | wow I like this long time no see mark |
 | Quite unusual. Is it an angel? Is it pagen? |
 | bog55 wrote on Feb 18, '08 What in the heck is it? Hi Sandy!! |
| Wouldn't you think that these 'local people' would be proud to have that there? What's wrong with them?!
Good grief ~ I don't know... |
| wow, these are amazing.... some people are so talented and creative.... how can there be hostility against this? I take it that the artist moved on and left the work behind? that is sad....it's a loss.... what a sad world...... ;-( |
 | It's too bad that it was met with hostility. I hope the artist moves on to a much more tolerant spot, if that is what the artist desires. |
 | greyrider wrote on Feb 18, '08, edited on Feb 18, '08 G'day, guys. From what I've read, it's a spitual work about our relationship with the land (and nature more generally) based on the life and death of the artist's (Tony Pantastes) father, who was a farmer and land clearer contractor.
The work is actually integral to the landscape and, viewed from a hill opposite, the upper panels frame a pastoral background marked by dead trees. You can see how these dead trees are represented in the panels themselves. The passage of the moon begins with a circle on the right and the sun by a larger circle and surrounding mirrors which reflect its light.
The reclining figure is the artist's dead father (with a spirit extended above/across the body) while a snake represents the illness that claimed him.
A more positive conclusion about our future relationship with nature was planned (you can see an awning behind the sculpture on the left that was intended to support this renewed landscape vision) but, ironically, work was stopped by the order of the local Shire. Let's hope the vision isn't stopped, too.
It's as wide as a broad house frontage and about two floors high... |
 | hm - the beginning of a magical castle? |
Comment deleted at the request of the thread owner.  | Have you blogged about this work? I'd like to know more about the tools used and the time expended: things along that line. I would be proud to have this in my neighborhood. |
| G'day, Reg. I thought I'd use the album rather than blog to show people and have just added a couple of more photos that my mate John took on our ride out there (they show an additional section to the right, forming the gate). It was built between 1993-97 and the following extract from the Australian heritage website describes how it was made: "Dreamers Gate was created by employing a technique adapted from ship building methods. The sculptural `skeleton` is made from 4mm galvanized wire tensioned in place and secured to a 450mm deep concrete footing .The work is then strengthened by the use of galvanised piping as cross members. Finally, it is covered with a `skin` of hessian, plaster, chicken wire, reo, mesh and a final layer of cement render." http://www.aussieheritage.com.au/listings/nsw/Collector/DreamersGate/3961 |
 | viera7 wrote on May 9, '08, edited on May 9, '08 wow...great work... it's wonderland...? Very interesting idea for a narrative document of the history of Australian land...Dreamers Gate is really unique...Thanks for sharing it...
Nice to see you again Mark...What's new on the opposite side?... |
| G'day, Viera. Good to see you. All's quiet on the southern front... |
| Thank you very much for your wishes ...may your day is filled with joy and happiness,,, |
 | G'day Mark,
Creativity in open art being so visible is exposed to individual tastes & interpretation, I can see where the uneducated could see this one piece in the front as pagan, and any suspicion of such a thing could be used to cause the closure. (if that was the reason behind it), which is a shame because the complete work in such a setting is very fitting & beautiful. I just find it very sad that while they argue over it’s fate it is starting to corrode at the back through lack of a sealant |
 | I am curious, do the works still exist? They are rather interesting. |
| Scanning through the other photos, I read a few of the comments, and from a reply I have located where these are located. I would need to be on my way towards Sydney to actually see them. It's a shame, because these days, I only fly that way. I would have stopped to see them for myself. |
| Yes, you would need to go a little south of the Hume near Goulburn, Paddy. I like it - and unfinished it is still cool. Maybe more so...... |
| I love it when you find things like these when you are out and about. I am inclined to stop and look too... I don't have any reason to drive that way anytime soon, otherwise I would certainly make plans to stop and look |
 | Beautiful--absolutely amazing.
--M |
Comment deleted at the request of the thread owner. Comment deleted at the request of the thread owner.  | As of January 2010 it is still there, and still as gobsmackingly awesome as it always has been, but up close, the ravages of time & weather are becoming more obvious as some of the chicken wire has corroded away and the concrete has started to fall out in places. I think the lack of upkeep will be its death - once it becomes unstable due to natural weathering and decay (and its probably close to that point now) then unless there's a large amount of money & time thrown at its restoration, the Gunning council can declare it a hazard and demolish it regardless of any protests from the artist and other interested parties. I'd be happy to donate a couple of weekends and a few $$$ to its restoration, but I somehow don't think that 'the public' will be allowed to restore something which is currently on private property. And thus, Gunning council and its other detractors win... |
 | We live relatively locally in Canberra and drove out there today (Easter Sunday). The sculpture is markedly deteriorating - certainly in much worse condition than the last time I saw it around five years ago.
I am finding it hard to believe that the Gunning council wants this destroyed. In another country, this would be a feted piece of outsider art - like Nek Chand's rock garden in India, or Watts Towers in Los Angeles. I wonder if there are any other lovers of outsider art who would love to see this work restored? It may be too late - if the land's been bought - but it seems a shame that such an extraordinary and unconventional artwork is going to ruin out there... |
 | I helped Tony in his fight with the Gunning Council and they were a bunch of redneck hicks. He ended up being fined around $50k and the council declared it unsafe around 2001 and had a demolition order on it then. Tony appealed through the Land and Environment court but lost. They claimed he needed building approval for it and wanted all the conventional paperwork, as if it was a hous Tony's house in Watson? has similar sculputure at the front and through-out the property. When I can remember the street I will add it. |
| Thanks, rcw. Such small minded opposition... I would like to see his house frontage if you could add a photo or let me know where the house is - when you can... |
 | Unfortunately Collector, while being a beautiful place, is full of red neck's and the Council is the same. Intolerant and sad. It's a going nowhere place. A few people that have moved there from Canberra have moved away again due to local hostility. Small narrow minded people unfortunately. |
| Doesn't sound good, Phillip. Not sure how the pub is going these days. I've had the odd coffee there over the past year at the pie shop and at the olive grove up the road... |
| The pub has closed down and the owners have being trying to sell it with no luck. Seems no one wants it. The pie shop closed down for a "holiday" and not sure if they have opened again, I will be at Collector Tomorrow, Thursday 16th June to have a look around. |
| I see that things are looking up, Phillip. I was out that way yesterday: the pie shop was open so I had a cup with another rider in the sun and the Bushranger had a sold sign on it so maybe its ghosts will have someone soon to haunt... |
| Great to see the pie shop has reopened. And good to see the sold sign on the pub. It took ages to sell the place, how I wished I had won lotto ! I would have brought it in a flash ! The next hurdle will be getting the bridge re-opened over Collector Creek. Sad to see that the council will saw down the 100 year old London Plane Tree beside the bridge. Those winter days with no wind and full sun are lovely to get out in. Today is like that so out I go ! |
| The bridge, yes. I expect the new pub owner will be pushing that, too... |
| The 100 year old London Plane Tree next to the Collector Creek Bridge was planted in January 1900 to celebrate Federation of Australia, by Leila Murray, who was the daughter of Terence Aubrey Murray, originally from "Winderradeen" at Collector. Leila spent the last few years of her life at Goulburn and travelled to Collecter in January 1900 to plant the tree. She died in 1901. One year later. Now over 100 years on the local council want to saw down the tree due to "problems" with the new bridge. How sad. |
| I notice that this tree can be (and commonly is) propagated by cuttings, Phillip. There are a few sites on this e.g. http://www.aranya.co.uk/planes/text/cultivation.html Perhaps that would be one way of preserving the symbolism if the parent tree will be lost? Perhaps Council would at least agree to that? Basically (taken from another site) - Propagation: London planetree is propagated by hardwood cuttings taken in autumn or by leafy softwood cuttings taken in summer. Cultivars are sometimes propagated by grafting. Light: Prefers full sun. Moisture: Normal water requirements. |
 | The population of a tiny (150) town bypassed by the big highway should actually be promoting the only peice of art in the southern hemisphere that resembles Gaudi's cathedral in Spain. It is unique and fitting that one mans dream should be at least moved to another location rather than be demolished. |
| Yes, it is a bit guadiesque in form, isn't it? And unique, too. I like its narrative and the relationship between the work and the landscape; it brings the background into the foreground in more ways than one. |
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