Lionel Rose celebrity print 1972

Summary

This concrete footprint 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.

"Lionel Rose (1948-2011) won the world bantamweight boxing title in February 1968. Born and raised in West Gippsland, he was the first indigenous Australian to win a world sporting title. Rose was heaped with honours: 1968 Australian of the Year, an MBE (Member of the British Empire) and a public reception at Melbourne Town Hall, witnessed by an estimated ten thousand people gathered in Swanston Street. Rose successfully defended the world bantamweight title three times before losing it in October 1969. In 1971 he retired from boxing, with a brief come-back in 1975. Adding to Rose’s fame was his singing career. Between 1969 and 1971, he released two albums and three singles, including the chart-topping song, ‘I Thank You." - Robyn Annear, 2023