Larry La Trobe - History

History

Melbourne artist Pamela Irving created the statue as a result of a commission from the Melbourne City Council in 1992 and was the first sculpture for Melbourne’s Open Air Sculpture Museum. Based on her own dog, Lucy, the statue is not representative of any particular breed but has been crafted to generate a sense of Australian larrikinism in the viewer. Irving named the statue after her uncle Larry and the surname ‘La Trobe’ was appended to represent the relationship with Melbourne, Australia and the state of Victoria. Charles La Trobe was the first Lieutenant Governor of the state of Victoria.

Despite being anchored by 30 cm bolts, the statue was stolen on the night of 30/31 August 1995. Thought to have been taken as part of a university stunt or melted down no trace was ever found of the original statue or the thieves who committed the theft.

A campaign was started by the Melbourne Times, a weekly city newspaper, to recover Larry. The publicity generated by this campaign captured the imagination of the public. A two metre high likeness of Larry was created for the 1996 Moomba Parade to create additional publicity that might lead to the return of the statue.

Although the subject of a significant publicity and media campaign the original statue has never been recovered. The statue now located in the square is the second statue of ‘Larry’. In 1996, Peter Kolliner, previous owner of the foundry where Larry was originally cast, paid for a casting of a new statue. The new statue was cast in the same mould as the original but Irving reddened the casting material to provide the second ‘Larry’ with a unique identity.

The second Larry was reinstalled in the City Square and officially unveiled on 16 September 1996 by Melbourne Lord Mayor, Councillor Ivan Deveson.

The two-meter high replica of the statue used in the Moomba Parade was taken to Osaka, Japan, a sister city of Melbourne, in 1997 for the Midosuji Parade where it was awarded the prize for Best Float.