22 kangaroos, designed and produced by award-winning sculptor Louis Pratt, have been created from COLORBOND® steel to commemorate the Australian brand’s 50th anniversary.
Made from the 22 colours in their current steel range, these full size male and female kangaroos, the largest being 160cm high, along with a handful of joeys, will be on display at a “hop up” exhibition at Hickson Road Reserve in The Rocks which will run for three days only, from Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27 October. The roos will also be joined by real life joeys from Featherdale Wildlife Park from 12 noon to 2pm each day and there is no charge to visit the exhibition.
Sculptor Louis Pratt, who won the prestigious $100,000 Mt Buller Sculpture Prize in 2013, created the kangaroo mob that weighs over 700 kilograms, in six weeks. “This was a fun job. Drawing, designing and producing the mob by hand took some work but I enlisted the services of some great fellow artists to lend me a hand. I’m thrilled with the result and the location for the pop-up exhibition is terrific -grass, water, views – I think they’ll be very happy here!” said Louis.
After the exhibition three of the kangaroos, Ned, Matilda and Banjo, will be auctioned off with proceeds going to the National Council of State Emergency Services. Those who visit the kangaroos in Sydney also have the chance to win one to take home.
Since 1966 COLORBOND® steel has become an integral part of Australian life, from the garden shed to some of the biggest and most beautiful pieces of architecture in the country and now the iconic kangaroo.
“Australia’s widely diverse environmental conditions demand a product that is specifically tested and developed for Australia. Our research and innovation teams have been conducting real-world outdoor exposure testing and accelerated laboratory testing to thousands of panels of COLORBOND® steel for almost fifty years to ensure the steel is an ideal building material for Australian conditions, so whether the roos reside in the heat of the Northern Territory or much cooler climate of Tasmania they’ll sure feel at home,” said Lisa Dent, Manager Marketing & Market Development – Sales & Marketing, BlueScope.
Sandra Tiltman
