Crowds Flock To Emu Unveiling

20150725 Emu statue committee — Mayor Wayne Kratzmann, fourth from left, congratulates Emu Memorial Committee members Trevor Hoult, Winston Burrows, Chris “Corky” Corcoran, Elaine Madill, Cathy Eustace, Percy Iszlaub, John Eustace and Shaz Birkett (missing: Cr Ros Heit and Dafyd Martindale) (Photo: Denise Keelan)

20150727 Charlotte The Emu — Earlier in the week … sculptor Dan Davie delivers the finished statue to Wondai
(Photo: CROW-FM)

July 27, 2015

A bumper crowd packed into Wondai’s Coronation Park on Saturday morning for the official unveiling of the town’s latest piece of public sculpture … a solid steel memorial to Charlotte the Emu.

For the last year, the 10 members of the Charlotte The Emu Memorial Committee have been spearheading a community fund-raising drive to build a memorial to the town’s former emu, which was accidentally run over last year.

The group arranged two radio auctions, put collection tins in local shops, and ran two outdoor movie nights to raise the funds needed for the memorial.

The statue was commissioned from award-winning Kilkivan metal sculptor Dan Davie. It was delivered earlier in the week, and had been stored at a secret location under tight security.

But at 5:15am on Saturday, members of the Memorial Committee put it on a truck and took it to a prepared site in Coronation Park to be bolted down and readied for the morning’s ceremony.

Everything went to plan … almost.

Committee members had a few heart-stopping moments towards the end of the move when they found the statue refused to sit perfectly flush with the ground.

However, a few expert blows with a hastily retrieved sledge-hammer soon solved the problem.

The morning also turned out to be overcast and threatening rain, so Committee members mounted a tent over the draped statue just in case.

As it turned out, they needn’t have worried … even Hughie politely held off for the occasion.

Saxophonist Tom McKenzie set the mood for the day, playing music from 9:00am while a big crowd of morning shoppers patiently gathered nearby.

Official proceedings began at 9:30am when the Wondai CWA Community Choir and students from Wondai State School – aided by Elaine Madill – launched into a spirited rendition of ‘Old Man Emu’.

After this, Mayor Wayne Kratzmann spoke briefly to congratulate the Wondai community on the project.

He also announced the next step of Wondai’s Village Green project would be construction of the first section of the Kingaroy-Kilkivan Rail Trail from Wondai to Wooroolin.

Work on this would start in a few weeks time, he said.

Mayor Kratzmann was followed by Winston Burrows, the committee member who retrieved Charlotte’s body after she died and buried her near the Wondai Tennis Courts, one of Charlotte’s favourite haunts.

Winston told the crowd about some of emu’s quirks, and noted that ever since Charlotte had been buried her grave always seemed to be adorned with flowers.

Then he unveiled the statue after a brief pause for a pre-recorded drum-roll.

After this, committee members stepped back to allow hordes of eager photographers to snap photos of the statue, or inspect it at close range.

Sculptor Dan Davie said the statue had been quite difficult to build.

The stylised feathers have been specially treated to resist graffiti, and as the statue ages it should look increasingly natural in its new environment.

It is also located in area which is already monitored by a 24-hour security camera.

CROW-FM’s Chris “Corky” Corcoran said the best security would be that almost everyone in Wondai has contributed to the project and now owns a part of the statue.

“This statue was built by the people of Wondai and friends of Wondai, so it belongs to all of them,” Corky said.

“I don’t think anyone is ever going to be allowed to harm our Charlotte.”

[Photos: Denise Keelan Photography and southburnett.com.au]