A Figure Hewn from the Cliff, Peterborough

This Rose Series postcard is entitled A Figure Hewn From The Cliff, Peterborough, Vic. It is, as the name suggests, a sculpture carved into the sandstone cliffs. The image is from the State Library of Victoria and was posted onto the Facebook group, Lost Country Victoria. A commentator on the Facebook post said that -  around the 1950s or 1960s I remember seeing this among other treasures growing up and frequently visiting this coastline..... somewhere around Loch Ard Gorge I think. My sister and I used to wander all thro there and caves when we were kids. Given many Rose Series postcards were produced from the 1920s to the 1950s and given that the figure has eroded, and now disappeared altogether, the work could  have been produced from the early 1900s. 

A Figure Hewn From The Cliff, Peterborough, Vic.

Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. State Library of Victoria image H32492/1908

https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/65025

It would be interesting to know if the sculptor created other carvings in the sandstone around Peterborough and if any evidence of them remain. 

Sources
Lost Country Victoria Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/LostCountryVictoria

Notes
Another person who saw the post said they uploaded the image to Google images and Goggle AI noted that the figure was carved by local resident "Bill" (William) Gore, who created several such sculptures along the cliffs in the early 20th century, but there was no supporting documentation. This may, of course, be true, but our independent research has found no evidence and, as no references were supplied, we cannot return to any original sources.

Now when you search the title of the postcard on the Internet the association with William Gore is the first and only reference you find, as it links to the Lost Country Victoria Facebook post and the Google AI information. What has vanished here is not only this endearing sandstone carving, but due to AI, any sort of documented research into the story behind the work. To many people AI says it is true and thus it is. And you may say, it's only a postcard, posted on a social media site, what does it matter? But AI 'research' is becoming more pervasive and as a researcher and historian, this vanishing connection between thorough investigation and results is as concerning as the many artefacts that have been lost over the years.