Bert Newton celebrity print 1978

Summary

This concrete handprint was formerly located as a part of the iconic McEwans celebrity pavement. Between 1972 and 1994, scores of celebrities had their handprints and footprints immortalised in cement at the entrance to the McEwans hardware store on Bourke Street. The City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection acquired a number of these impressed concrete slabs from the original celebrity pavement in 2005.

"Bert Newton (1938-2021) made his start as a teenage radio announcer in 1954. He graduated to TV in 1957 and appeared on GTV Channel 9, often alongside Graham Kennedy. For eight years starting in 1975 he was sidekick and jester on The Don Lane Show. Affectionately known as ‘Moonface’, Newton was a beloved Melbourne (and national) ‘personality’ throughout his long career. In 1978, after previous year’s Mickey Mouse controversy, Newton became the first ‘home-grown’ (i.e., Melbourne-born) King of Moomba." - Robyn Annear, 2023