Busting the budget? Price tag revealed to honour Barry Humphries at Adelaide theatre
A long-sought sculpture of an Aussie theatre icon may finally have legs at Her Majesty’s Theatre, but there is discontent bubbling among decision makers over its price tag.
Plans are afoot for a $313,083 sculpture honouring the late Barry Humphries AO – aka Dame Edna and Les Patterson – to be the latest public work headed for the city’s Grote Street, after the art piece was first pitched in 2023.
The bronze sculpture of Humphries would be sculpted by renowned artist Robert Hannaford AM, who is responsible for other major city artworks, including Roy ‘Mo’ Rene on Hindley Street.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Adelaide City Council will vote on approving the bronze sculpture expected to have a $313,083 price tag that would be jointly funded by the council, Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and the state government.
Council documents reveal it would allocate $106,083 from its public art fund for the work, while the Festival Centre Trust puts in $107,000 and the state government $100,000.
Humphries first performed at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1953 at the age of 19 and was the patron of Her Majesty’s Theatre redevelopment fund, he also had a long association with the Adelaide Festival Centre.
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The globally famous entertainer was born in 1934 and died in 2023, having spent more than 70 years on the stage, and continuing to tour iconic characters like Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson up until the last year of his life.
Councillor Henry Davis – who recently left Sarah Game’s Fair Go for Australians party – told InDaily that while he supports honouring Barry Humphries, he could not get behind the price tag.
He pointed to council legal costs and sending staff to accompany the Lord Mayor to COP30 in Rio as recent expenses meaning he believed the latest project does not add up.
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“The City of Adelaide simply can’t afford this right now,” he said.
“Businesses are closing. Homelessness is rising.
“Ratepayers are struggling, and the council should be laser-focused on essential services, not discretionary projects.
“The principle of the statue is fine – the timing and priorities are not. I can’t support spending $106,000 of ratepayer money on a sculpture when the city is in this financial and social position.”
But Councillor Carmel Noon, who spearheaded the sculpture of Humphries project in 2023, said it was a reasonable price for an artwork of this calibre.
“I actually have heard some rumblings about cost and about why we’re spending money on this, we have a fund for this, a public art fund,” Noon said.
“At the end of the day, we have budgets for these purposes.
“So $100,000, when you think of the money we have spent on other sorts of art pieces, and I’m not criticising those, they’re just not what I would support in this economic time, this is also supporting visitation into the area, it has an economic worth to it as well.
“This to me is spending that budget wisely because I don’t think I would have supported Pigeon in the mall for $170,000 but this is a man who did so much for the City of Adelaide, saved an iconic theatre and was a major contributor in that process.”
Humphries’ family has supported the project, which will be voted on at the Adelaide City Council meeting tonight before it can go ahead.
Noon said if the artwork was approved tonight she hoped it would be “just the beginning” to honour the artistic legacy of the Her Majesty’s Theatre precinct and suggested a walk of fame recognising artists that performed there could activate the area in the future.
