The Herald Sun of April 2, 2026 reported on the Fallen Fruit sculpture, created by Adam Stone, which once graced the corner of Rose Street and Brunswick Street in Fitzroy.
The short article, written by Craig Dunlop, is reproduced here. The punny headline - was
Vandalised Sculpture still has ap-peal....and this time there will be no slip-ups
The City of Yarra has bought an $8000 miniature replica of a controversial sculpture of a carved banana that was almost beheaded in a vandalism attack in 2021. The new version of artist Adam Stone’s sculpture, Fallen Fruit, has been placed on display behind security glass outside the staff toilets on the top floor of the Fitzroy North Library.
A City of Yarra spokeswoman confirmed the sculpture was purchased with some of the proceeds from the insurance payout the council received when the original sculpture was vandalised on the corner of Rose and Brunswick streets in Fitzroy.
The original sculpture cost the council $22,000, and was funded by a TAC grant to “activate” the street. “Since the original artwork was vandalised and damaged, council has been working with the artist to find a way to re-imagine the artwork in a cost effective way,” the spokeswoman said.
“Unfortunately, the sculpture was damaged beyond repair when vandalised.” The spokeswoman said there were no plans to move the sculpture to a more prominent location.
The new sculpture is 60cm in height, and is described in a curator’s statement as celebrating the “creative character of the neighbourhood”. “Conceptually, the sculpture reflects on the excesses of Western hubris and late capitalism, where over consumption and greed foster imbalance and inequality,” the description says. “By enlarging the banana and transforming it into a weighty, art historically resonant object on a plinth, the outdoor sculpture became a surreal monument to our cultural fixation on performance, ambition and spectacle."
"Today, the smaller version of Fallen Fruit remains, preserving the story and history of the original while continuing to evoke the themes it first explored.”
The vandal who tried to behead the original has never been identified or brought to justice.
Original report
Vandalised Sculpture still has ap-peal....and this time there will be no slip-ups by Craig Dunlop
Herald-Sun, April 2, 2026, page 11.
This was an interesting sculpture that created much conversation, and it is a shame that it was destroyed by wanton vandalism. However, whilst Vanished Victoria understands why a full-scale replica was not created, the location of the replacement on the top floor of the North Fitzroy Library in St Georges Road, further north than the Edinburgh Gardens, seems a bizarre decision. If the original purpose of the sculpture was to "activate'' the street, then this new location fails to do this. If the only suitable location was indeed the North Fitzroy Library, surely it could have been installed at street level.
The Fallen Fruit sculpture has now vanished twice - once when then originally sculpture was vandalised and removed and now when the replacement was installed in an obscure location. Source:
The Fallen Fruit sculpture has now vanished twice - once when then originally sculpture was vandalised and removed and now when the replacement was installed in an obscure location. Source:
Dunlop, Craig Vandalised Sculpture still has ap-peal....and this time there will be no slip-ups
Herald-Sun, April 2, 2026, page 11.
On-line version of this story (behind a paywall) https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north/city-of-yarra-buys-8k-replica-of-vandalised-banana-sculpture-fallen-fruit/news-story/875a1135566c65f1fc9665518f275e81
Other references:
Reports of the original vandalism -
Sun, Michael Dramatically vandalised’: publicly funded $22,000 banana splits opinion in Melbourne. The Guardian November 26, 2021 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/nov/26/dramatically-vandalised-publicly-funded-22000-banana-splits-opinion-in-melbourne
Adam Stone website https://www.adam-stone.com.au/
