Pioneer Women's Memorial (Perth)
The Pioneer Women's Memorial is located in the Western Australian Botanic Garden, within Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia.[1] It comprises a lake, sculpture and fountain and was built to honour the contributions of pioneering women to the development of the city and state.[1][2]
In the early 1960s there were moves to establish the memorial,[2][3][4] with planning beginning in 1963.[5] The centrepiece, a nine-foot tall bronze statue designed by Margaret Priest, stands on a stepping stone in an ornamental lake and is surrounded by five other stones and fountains.[1] The statue was unveiled, and the fountain in the lake was officially started, by the Governor of Western Australia on 14 January 1968.[5] The opening ceremony was hosted by the King's Park Board members and chairman, and a large group of attendees heard a speech by Geoffrey Summerhayes, the architect, which described his plan for the memorial as, "the figure of a woman apparently mounting a stream by stepping stones … stepping stones of progress".[6]
The area around the memorial was upgraded in 1999, and the Centenary of Western Australian Women's Suffrage Memorial was added nearby.[7]
References
- "Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority - Pioneer Womens Memorial". www.bgpa.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- "Fountain to Commemorate Pioneer Women". The Beverley Times. 60 (3). Western Australia. 29 January 1965. p. 10. Retrieved 13 September 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
- Pioneer Women's Memorial Fountain collection, 1890, retrieved 11 April 2016
- Wilson, W. E. Mrs (1965), Pioneer Women's Memorial Fountain collection, 1965-1966, 1965-1966, retrieved 11 April 2016
- "Pioneer Women's Memorial Fountain collection [manuscript]. - Version details". Trove. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- Davidson, Dianne (1997). Women on the warpath : feminists of the first wave. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press. p. 259. ISBN 1875560912.
- http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23604/20040615-0000/www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/cabinet/mediast/dg99-06/parpio.html Pioneer Women's Memorial in Kings Park redevelopment