tiabunna's photos with the keyword: statue

This statue is holding the remains of a Eureka Flag (since the 1853 miners' uprising at Eureka the "go to" flag for protests in Australia - 1st PiP). Forgotten by many, the second largest uprising in Australia was, of all places, set in the little town of Barcaldine in 1891, when the shearers formed a union and refused to take pay cuts imposed by the large pastoralists. There were opposing marches through towns by shearers and the Queensland militia, some wool sheds were burned, and finally the pastoralist-led Queensland government had the strike leaders arrested (see PiPs) while scab labourers were imported from southern states. You can read more about it here, but maybe faster to listen to this song which tells the story. Wishing everyone a Happy Fence Friday and a good weekend.

This statue of the "Cunnamulla Fella" ("fella" is Australian slang term for "fellow" / man) occupies the pride of place in a park in the middle of the town of Cunnamulla. The title comes from a country and western song (see PiPs also) and the song lyrics are based around the names of towns in western Queensland.

This image needs some explanation for viewers outside Australia. First of all, many Australian country towns have a "Big" statue of their claim to fame - one of the best known is the "Big Pineapple", there also is the "Big Merino" (sheep), and a couple more I'll show from this trip. So, what is a "Bogan"? It's an Australian term for a very unsophisticated and uncultured person - something like a "country bumpkin" or "yokel" in other places. Someone who would prefer to be with his dog and go fishing, as with the statue, rather than attend a concert. Of course, Nyngan happens to be on the Bogan River, so.....! I gather this caused something of a stir locally when it was erected. :-)

The gentleman commemorated by this statue in Vientiane, the Lao capital, is Setthathirath, who became King of several of the regions now forming Laos in the mid-1500s. He successfully fought off invasions from Burma and built many Buddhist structures. Behind his statue is the golden stupa, the Pha That Luang (see also clickable PiP). HFF, stay safe and best wishes for the weekend, everyone.

If you peer very carefully at the base of the statue, you'll see that it's a statue of Holberg. Ludvig Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher etc, but most of all he was born in Bergen, where this statue is found. Another famous native of Bergen was Edvard Grieg, who wrote the music in this link. HFF and Happy Midwinter everyone (well, maybe it's summer where you are), have a great weekend. Explored.

This statue is in Pendeen, near the Geevor mine. See also PiP. From the inscription: "Hard rock breeds hard men Who slip between earth's cracks for a living; The dark chasm which closes around you, Tight like a fist, draws you down Into the mine's gullet, the belly of the beast..." My thanks to John Fitzgerald for bringing to my attention this musical link which pretty much says it all.

This elephant statue was at the Forbidden City. We saw elephant statues in other places, which intrigued me as I had not associated them with China. It turns out that there still are elephants in part of southern China, but a now extinct species (until the 14th C) once roamed most of the country.