Memorials

The terms of office of Sydney's Mayors and Lord Mayors have been traditionally recorded on eight marble tablets, in the northern Crush Space of Sydney Town Hall. The tablet for 1898-1912 is interesting because it marks the change of title from Mayor to Lord Mayor. Made of New Sicilian marble by Mr F Arnold, the inscriptions were carved by hand and gilded.

(Image: Marble tablet commemorating the Mayoralty 1898-1902 STHC 88-287)

George Allman Griffen, who was the first man to volunteer for the Light Horse was the first of the NSW Contingent to die in South Africa on 16 January 1900 during a Boer ambush at Slingersfontein. His death had such an impact in Australia at a time when the country was celebrating its new found Federation, a committee of his friends and supporters commissioned Achille Simonetti to create a marble tablet in his memory. Simonetti was the most fashionable sculptor in Sydney at the time, having modelled busts and statues of many Sydney luminaries. Simonetti, who died before the tablet was completed, arranged for sculptor James White, the first sculptor to win Sydney's prestigious Wynne Prize, to complete the work. The tablet, inscribed incorrectly to George Griffin, was erected in the Vestibule in Sydney Town Hall, where it can be seen today.

(Image: Marble memorial to Troop Sergeant-Major George Griffin, 1900 STHC 88- 277)

Recessed into the southern wall of the Main Hall of Sydney Town Hall is a bas relief inscribed "Remembering Nellie Melba", by Arthur Murch. Murch was a former engineer who had changed careers and after studying painting and sculpture became an official war artist during World War II. The tribute was proposed by Lord Lurgan, who as a vocalist toured Australia for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1939. As a young singer, Lurgan had received encouragement from Melba, and his tribute was intended to record Melba's great contribution to music in a venue where she had performed so often. The tablet depicts a figure in song with instrumental and natural accompaniment. It was unveiled by Her Excellency Lady Gowrie during the interval of the first War Fund Patriotic Concert arranged by the ABC in the Town Hall on 19 May 1941 on the anniversary of Melba's birthday.

(Image: Bas relief, Remembering Nellie Melba by Arthur Murch, 1941, STHC 292)

From a large piece of Carrara marble, sculptor Peter Schipperheyn created a tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland who first sang in Sydney Town Hall in a student performance of the "Christmas Oratorio" in 1946. She maintained that the opportunity to sing in Sydney's Town Hall represented a pinnacle in her career. The sculpture, which features a large ear, draws analogy to the idea of sound and music. Shipperheyn's design appealed to the committee appointed to commission the work because it did not attempt to create a portrait of Dame Joan, or her operatic characters. According to Edmund Capon, Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, the work of Peter Shipperheyn, a self-taught artist, expresses hope, sensitivity, classicism and contemporanity.

(Image: Marble sculpture Joan Sutherland, 1987 STHC 88-293)