Des McKenna O.A.M – Woodcarver & Sculptor

Goanna

Koorie Heritage Trust Cultural Centre

This was an extremely complicated commission and can be seen in the entrance foyer
of the KHT Cultural Centre in King StMelbourne (cnr. Lt Lonsdale St)

It serves was a welcome to the centre and as the collection point for entry donations.

The sculpture is a 3 metre goanna climbing down a fabricated copper sheathed pole
which runs from ceiling to floor. This pole contains the donation collection safe.

The goanna curls around the pole and his tongue (rubber) contains a slot as entry
for donations.

The sculpture is made of River Red Gum and is fitted with nylon claws. It is complex
because the Goanna curls around the pole and required the fabrication of a galvanized iron tube on which it was fitted as it was carved. This tube had to be the same diameter as the final pole (320mm diameter), to enable its snug fitting in its final display location. The construction is from 7 separate pieces of River Red Gum. When finished the sculpture was firstly moved to the tube fabricating company so that appropriate fixing points could be set up which would be structurally suitable. This involved fixing bolts to the sculpture and coinciding fitting points cut into the tube.

The tube and sculpture were then moved separately to the KHT and the sculpture fixed in place once the tube installation was complete – a task requiring great care not to mark the surface of the copper tube. Once the sculpture was in place its claws were fitted – a task that could not be finalised beforehand - as they are around the curvature of the pole.

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