5 December 2011

On the road again at Lyons Shops

| johnboy
Join the conversation
26
on the road

DarkLadyWolf has sent in some pictures of the cracking new piece of public art at Lyons shops.

It’s called “On the Road Again” and it’s a bronze by Anne Ross.

on the road again plaque

Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it to images@the-riotact.com .

Join the conversation

26
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Love it. One of the better bits of street art around Canberra. Love the dog 🙂

BicycleCanberra11:45 pm 06 Dec 11

L_Observer said :

If the Chifley shemozzle only cost the ratepayer $100k then the ACT bureaucrats screwed the contractor. I notice you simply assert this was the cost, without any evidence. The playground was opened for 5 minutes and then shut again for the best part of a year – presumably due to George Orwell’s OH&S police.
Also your assertion that it is essential “to get people to frequent the shopping precinct more then a playground area” is pretty silly. Presumably, if the playground was exceptional people would flock to it and the adjoining shops would benefit enormously. Perhaps you would benefit from learning a little economics.[/quote>

I did forget to mention that the community park, part cost $300 000. It was the department who decided to put the playground at the same site as the new playground, thus closing most of the play site for a while.

The precinct is doing well because of the playground just ask the owners of the Friendly Grocer ,having a good cafe and restaurant helps as well.

Bicycle Canberra said:
The first part of the Chifley Playground cost $100 000 ,that included the two playground areas( which included public art) and two seating areas.When they ‘closed the school’ they then decided to build a community park in the same location which included another playground site, the BBQ area,more seating, tree planting, paths,a half basketball court and fitness equipment area.
They have also just installed a shade sail over one of the playgrounds, reason unknown, unless they plan to start shading all playgrounds.
I am all for public art particularly if it have some historical meaning for Canberra, but to get people to frequent the shopping precinct more then a playground area is essential.

If the Chifley shemozzle only cost the ratepayer $100k then the ACT bureaucrats screwed the contractor. I notice you simply assert this was the cost, without any evidence. The playground was opened for 5 minutes and then shut again for the best part of a year – presumably due to George Orwell’s OH&S police.
Also your assertion that it is essential “to get people to frequent the shopping precinct more then a playground area” is pretty silly. Presumably, if the playground was exceptional people would flock to it and the adjoining shops would benefit enormously. Perhaps you would benefit from learning a little economics.

Deref said :

Mang said :

Spykler said :

dpm said :

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Is that 24 potato scallops for one person?! Wow! I like ’em but I couldn’t manage that many!

Washed down with a 1.25 litre bottle of coke, the first 10 don’t even hit the sides.

When you walk through the doors of the takeaway shop do you hit both sides?

As any fule kno, if that’s Coke Zero, the total kilojoule content of the meal is 0.

Correct, that’s exactly the belief I subscribe to…if I swap Zero with Diet Coke then I pretty much stray into negative kilojoule territory..I can then afford the luxury of a few crumbed chicken wings as well..

Mang said :

Spykler said :

dpm said :

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Is that 24 potato scallops for one person?! Wow! I like ’em but I couldn’t manage that many!

Washed down with a 1.25 litre bottle of coke, the first 10 don’t even hit the sides.

When you walk through the doors of the takeaway shop do you hit both sides?

As any fule kno, if that’s Coke Zero, the total kilojoule content of the meal is 0.

Spykler said :

dpm said :

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Is that 24 potato scallops for one person?! Wow! I like ’em but I couldn’t manage that many!

Washed down with a 1.25 litre bottle of coke, the first 10 don’t even hit the sides.

When you walk through the doors of the takeaway shop do you hit both sides?

Peewee Slasher12:24 pm 06 Dec 11

What dissapoints me is that all the “troubled” taggers out there are busy decorating the fences of good burbers whilst there is perfectly good public art to work on.

And … I’m sure there is an argument somewhere that tagging others public art is just another expression of art.

dpm said :

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Is that 24 potato scallops for one person?! Wow! I like ’em but I couldn’t manage that many!

Washed down with a 1.25 litre bottle of coke, the first 10 don’t even hit the sides.

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Is that 24 potato scallops for one person?! Wow! I like ’em but I couldn’t manage that many!

BicycleCanberra7:58 am 06 Dec 11

L_Observer said :

To Bicycle Canberra and Lyons75,
Don’t know how much the Chifley Shops playground cost, but given the way they dicked about for at least two years in completing it, I’m willing to bet Chifley was several multiples of the cost of this sculpture at Lyons.

The first part of the Chifley Playground cost $100 000 ,that included the two playground areas( which included public art) and two seating areas.When they ‘closed the school’ they then decided to build a community park in the same location which included another playground site, the BBQ area,more seating, tree planting, paths,a half basketball court and fitness equipment area.
They have also just installed a shade sail over one of the playgrounds, reason unknown, unless they plan to start shading all playgrounds.

I am all for public art particularly if it have some historical meaning for Canberra, but to get people to frequent the shopping precinct more then a playground area is essential.

Looks great, I’ll have to stop and check it out next time I’m in the area.

To Bicycle Canberra and Lyons75,
Don’t know how much the Chifley Shops playground cost, but given the way they dicked about for at least two years in completing it, I’m willing to bet Chifley was several multiples of the cost of this sculpture at Lyons.

Spykler said :

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

Healthy AND delicious!

carnardly said :

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

agreed…If you buy 20 scallops for your lunch, they often throw in a dim sim or another 4 scallops in for free..

I think the hospital could make much better use of that money.

I like the Lyons takeaway food shop’s chips and potato cakes. 🙂

Waiting For Godot3:35 pm 05 Dec 11

I thought all this public art BS was supposed to have stopped when Stanhope quit.

BicycleCanberra3:17 pm 05 Dec 11

Lyons75 said :

Poetix – I don’t think you read my entire comment, I like public art and yes I do look at it and appreciate it – I can even appreciate the orange windmills on Adelaide Avenue.

BUT I really think the $$$ would have been better spent on providing ‘basic’ facilities for the community, like a good quality kids playground or a bbq and a shelter. To me they add more to the creation of a community than a sculpture.

Agree, $50 000 for public art and $100 000 for a playground and BBQ

BicycleCanberra3:16 pm 05 Dec 11

Lyons75 said :

Poetix – I don’t think you read my entire comment, I like public art and yes I do look at it and appreciate it – I can even appreciate the orange windmills on Adelaide Avenue.

BUT I really think the $$$ would have been better spent on providing ‘basic’ facilities for the community, like a good quality kids playground or a bbq and a shelter. To me they add more to the creation of a community than a sculpture.

Agree $50 000 for public art and $100 000 for a playground and BBQ

Poetix – I don’t think you read my entire comment, I like public art and yes I do look at it and appreciate it – I can even appreciate the orange windmills on Adelaide Avenue.

BUT I really think the $$$ would have been better spent on providing ‘basic’ facilities for the community, like a good quality kids playground or a bbq and a shelter. To me they add more to the creation of a community than a sculpture.

First thing Lyons needs is a better takeaway. I’ve tried to support the local a few times but it’s terrible.

Lyons75 said :

So I say pull down this piece of art and build a bbq for the community. 🙂

BethiePrice said :

I’m confused as to what these are for…other than another place to graffiti

God forbid that ‘the community’ might look at a sculpture. (That’s what they’re for, incidentally.) It seems quite whimsical and imaginative to me, looking at the photos, and is unlikely to frighten the kiddies. ‘Family friendly’ does not mean ‘art-free’.

shadow boxer said :

That is indeed a cracker, if the good people of Lyons don’t want it we would gladly accept it in Gungahlin.

Even next to the spinnifex on the GDE would bring a smile.

I think something like this would go well in the Lyneham shops, which unbelievably, don’t have a sculpture of their own.

shadow boxer2:04 pm 05 Dec 11

That is indeed a cracker, if the good people of Lyons don’t want it we would gladly accept it in Gungahlin.

Even next to the spinnifex on the GDE would bring a smile.

I’m confused as to what these are for…other than another place to graffiti

Bicyclecanberra – you took the words right out of my mouth. I am a big fan of public art, but in the right places and to me $150k for a piece of public art in a little community centre is crazy.

As a Lyons resident I would have much prefered the money was spent on a kids playground and bbq area like at Chifley. The facility in Chifley is always packed on weekend and coupled with ‘A Bite to Eat’ and a great little supermarket it has made Chifley a great little community centre.

Lyons has certainly evolved in the 10 or so years I’ve lived there and it is no longer quite the ‘poor cousin’ of Woden suburbs. The recent refurbishment of the shops (of which the public art was a part of) is nice, but didnt really add anything to the community. Couple this with there is no modern kids playgrounds in the suburb or nice parks with BBQs and picnic tables – it unfortunately still lacks a community and family friendly feel.

So I say pull down this piece of art and build a bbq for the community. 🙂

BicycleCanberra12:44 pm 05 Dec 11

This bit of sculpture apparently cost around the $140 – $150 000 dollar mark. While I support Public art in certain locations I think that a Playground would have been better for the Lyons shops, to bring people in, like at Chifley shops.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.