Penola Town Square Generosity of Spirit Sculpture
Celebrating the Women of Penola & Coonawarra
The communities of Penola and Coonawarra have a rich history of incredible women who have shaped these communities and beyond. The Penola Town Square Working Group wanted to show the communities gratitude to these women through commissioning a sculpture for the Penola Town Square.
This decision was inspired by national and international campaigns to recognise the contribution of women through public art in public spaces. For example, Queensland has a campaign of Female Faces 4 Public Spaces, Victoria has a campaign of Put Her Name on It, USA has a campaign titled Statues for Equality and the UK has begun the debate about redressing the balance in public sculpture of women. Whereas these campaigns aim to recognise individual women, the Penola Town Square Working Group decided to recognise all the women of Penola and Coonawarra who have shaped these communities. We do not know of any other community who has done this to date.
Gerry McMahon, an acclaimed Adelaide based sculptor, was selected to create the contemporary sculpture. Key attributes he was asked to capture were positivity, strength, determination, vision, kindness, generosity, courage, and intergenerational empowerment. The Penola Town Square Working Group believes Gerry has captured all these attributes in his sculpture, which they titled ‘Generosity of Spirit’.
The sculpture, three metres in height and made of Corten steel, is of a woman with her feet firmly on the ground holding a young girl high above her with great strength in her hands and a loving expression. The poem ‘What if you can fly’, by Erin Hanson successfully captures the sentiment and intent of the sculpture. Erin Hanson provided her permission for her poem to be used.
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask “What if I fall?”
Oh but my darling, What if you fly?
Of significance is that the $46,000 required to fund the sculpture and the signage was raised through community donations by over 75 donors who made donations between $10 and $5,000. This fundraising effort was supported administratively by Stand Like Stone Foundation and Foundation For Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR).
The Penola Town Square Working Group is extremely grateful for the generosity of the community, especially the Major Benefactors, who donated up to $5,000, namely, the Balnaves Family, Penola and District branch of the Bendigo Bank, Penola Lions Club and Cathy Schmidt, and the various donors who donated at least $1,000 to pay tribute to local women and groups of women.
Many of the donors, who wished to pay tribute to a local woman or group of women, have also written stories and provided photos. These are valuable historical resources and are available here:
Generosity of Spirit Sculpture Stories
Wattle Range Council has been supportive of the project and staff have worked very closely with the Penola Town Square Working Group to install the sculpture and signage in the Penola Town Square.
The sculpture was officially unveiled by Wendy Hollick, Riddoch Ward Citizen of the Year 2023 on Sunday, 21 May, 2023.
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