Premier Dick Hamer and Free Strickland celebrity print 1980
Maker unknown
Registration number
1809652
Artist/maker
Maker unknown
Title
Premier Dick Hamer and Free Strickland celebrity print
Production date
1980
Medium
concrete, brass
Dimensions (H x W x D)
64 x 22.3 x 6.5 cm
Inscriptions
INTERNATIONAL CENTENARY / EXHIBITION YEAR 1880- 1980 / THE HON. DICK HAMER / PREMIER OF VICTORIA / AND / MR FREE STRICKLAND / CHAIRMAN EXHIBITION TRUSTEES / LEFT THEIR IMPRINTS HERE / ON 30-09-80
Credit line
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
Keywords
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.
"Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer (1916-2004), and business leader, Freeman ‘Free’ Strickland (1921-2008), were the key promoters of the Melbourne International Centenary Exhibition (MICE). Held in the Royal Exhibition Building over two weeks in the spring of 1980, the MICE marked 100 years since Melbourne’s first international exhibition on the site." - Robyn Annear, 2023