Acknowledgements This project began years ago as I contemplated the boxes of records I had kept over the years and packed up ready for safekeeping in the Fryer Library at UQ. There was so much of the story about the carvings that would never be told without the inclusion of the many concept drawings and records that still remained deep in my large file-drawers at home. I was keeping them until I had the time to assemble a scrapbook of memories of my time in the Great Court. Many people had asked when I was going to put pen to paper but, apart from family commitments, fulfilling my sculpture commissions rather than writing was always my priority. At the end of each long day I had little energy left.
I had started to contribute brief articles to Alumni News and, following publication in 2016 of Carving a history: a guide to the Great Court, I showed some of my drawings I had saved to Camille Layt and Suzanne Parker in UQ Marketing and Communication, and their interest was aroused. So, my sincere thanks must firstly go to them and other members of staff – particularly designer and photographer Jennifer McLeod – for their enthusiasm and interest in my work, and for ‘getting this show on the road’. I acknowledge the faith placed in me by James Maccormick MBE OAM, University of Queensland Architect, who in 1976, recognised my natural talent for carving but also acknowledged the new era of gender equality, and approved my appointment as successor to John Theodore Muller, commissioning me to follow on in his role as University Sculptor. I appreciate the encouragement of Don Munro AM, the Deputy (and often Acting) Registrar and Director of Protocol at UQ. His knowledge of subjects for grotesques aided my understanding of their role in the foundation of the University and its move to the St Lucia campus. As founding Chairman of the Queensland Performing Arts Trust in 1978 and President of Musica Viva, Don significantly influenced Queensland’s cultural life.
Attending the 2010 launch in the Forgan Smith tower foyer of my cast bronze relief portrait medallion of Dr James O’Neil Mayne – who, along with his sister, Mary Emelia, gave the title to the St Lucia land to the Chancellor of the University in 1930 – are author Rosamund Siemon, myself, and my husband, Rob
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