Wallace Monument, Botanic Gardens, Ballarat

Dublin Core

Title

Wallace Monument, Botanic Gardens, Ballarat

Subject

‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’, Ballarat, Ballarat Botanic Gardens, Battle, Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297), bequest, Edward I (1239-1307), Guardian of Scotland, hero, James Russell Thomson (1818-1886), patriot, poem, Percival Ball (1845-1900), reverence, Robert Burns (1759-1796), statue, Thomson Bequest, VIC, Victoria, William Wallace, warrior.

Description

This statue of William Wallace, the Scottish warrior famous for leading the defeat of English forces at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, stands in the Botanic Gardens in Ballarat, Victoria. Sculpted by Percival Ball of Melbourne and unveiled in 1889, the statue was funded by a £3000 bequest to the gardens by James Russell Thomson, a Scottish miner who made his fortune during the Victorian gold rush. It was intended as a tribute to Thomson’s Scottish origins. The front the statue bears an inscription from Robert Burns’ 1785 sentimental poem ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’, which also lauds Wallace as a noble patriot and hero.

Creator

Valentine & Sons’ Publishing Co

Source

State Library of Victoria

Date

c.1913

Rights

State Library of Victoria

Format

Postcard: printed; 8.8 x 13.8 cm