In 1972, the Albert Park Reserve Committee of Management commissioned sculptor, Stanley Hammond, to provide bronze sculpted inlays depicting sports played in the park, to be set in brick pillars at the park entrances (1).
Stanley Hammond was born on August 1, 1913 in Trentham. He attended Daylesford Technical School and at 17 became an assistant to Orlando Dutton and worked with him on the stone sculptures at the Shrine of Remembrance. In 1933, Stanley began working with Paul Montford, to learn to work in bronze. During the Second World War, he joined the Army and produced accurate scale models of military hardware for recognition purposes. He resumed his career after the War. His works include a bronze of Sir Walter Scott at Ballarat, one of John Batman in Melbourne and the four sandstone lions which were added to the South African Soldiers' Memorial in St Kilda Road in 1952. He worked with George Allen to carve the 125 ton Victorian Second World War Memorial - Fallen Warrior - which is in the forecourt at the Shrine. In 1970, he created a 3 metre bronze statue of an Australian World War One soldier which was erected in Mont St Quentin, France to commemorate the Second Division. Stanley was a life-member of the Association of Sculptors of Victoria and also served as President. He was awarded an M.B.E., in 1974, for services to sculpture and the arts. Stanley died February 1, 2000.
Much of this information about Stanley Hammond comes from his obituary, written by David Roper, which was published in The Age on March 2, 2000. David also wrote - the six bronze panels for the entrance to Albert Park reserve enabled him to incorporate his own record-breaking speedboat, Atom, in the design.
As a matter of interest, Stanley first raced the Atom in 1955, when it had a top speed of 35 mph. After modifications by 1960 it could reach speeds of 60.8 mph (2). The Atom is now at the Science Museum, and is pictured below.
Where are Stanley Hammond's six bronze panels now? An enquiry was made with Parks Victoria to no avail.
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Stanley Hammond's speedboat, Atom, which featured on one of the six bronze panels which once adorned the entrance pillar at Albert Park Reserve.
Image: Atom speedboat in McArthur Hall at the Science Museum, 1971.
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Footnotes(1) Barnard, Jill & Keating, Jenny
People's Playground: a history of the Albert Park (Chandos Publishing, 1996) p. 166
(2) Stanley Hammond and the
Atom - information can be found in
The Proprider October 1973,
here and on the Classic Australian Wooden Power Boats website,
here.
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