What is this on the lawns of Parliament House circa 1950!?

or reptoid landing strip? we all know king george was an alien… they filled in that space with water, now lbg, to cover the burn marks from their landing, i believe.

Thankyou everyone!

Great pic moneypenny. Also the one in the original post. Love these old pics. And the one with the autumn foliage is great too.

Originally it looked like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frontdrive34/3521383323/

I think the horseman faced the lake, with the king facing Parliament. Aside from the pavement approaching the king, the original podium had steps going down the slope towards the lake (like a split-level I suppose).

Gardening Girl is correct. They moved it because it was felt (by whom I wonder) that it negatively affected the symmetry of the view or something. So now it’s shoved over to the side, where its size seems all wrong… it was designed to fit in with its original position. Quite an imposing edifice originally.

GardeningGirl said :

Sorry that link doesn’t seem to be working. It’s the NLA Picture Australia website. Here’s part of the description.
“The Memorial was commissioned after the death of King George V in 1936. As the Duke of York he had opened the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne in 1901.
Following a limited competition, a design by G Rayner Hoff in association with architect Harry Foskett was selected. Hoff died in 1937, and in 1938 John E Moorfield was engaged to complete the Memorial to Hoff’s overall design.
The Memorial was unveiled on 4 March 1953. At this time it was located in front of Parliament House, but in 1968 it was resited because it blocked the important view from Parliament House to the War Memorial. The Memorial was re-erected on a smaller and lower podium and re-aligned east-west.”
I remember attending Carols by Candlelight when it was still located in the middle.

Great call.

Original tent embassy?

It’s this http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-eye/2424332364/

Sorry that link doesn’t seem to be working. It’s the NLA Picture Australia website. Here’s part of the description.
“The Memorial was commissioned after the death of King George V in 1936. As the Duke of York he had opened the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne in 1901.
Following a limited competition, a design by G Rayner Hoff in association with architect Harry Foskett was selected. Hoff died in 1937, and in 1938 John E Moorfield was engaged to complete the Memorial to Hoff’s overall design.
The Memorial was unveiled on 4 March 1953. At this time it was located in front of Parliament House, but in 1968 it was resited because it blocked the important view from Parliament House to the War Memorial. The Memorial was re-erected on a smaller and lower podium and re-aligned east-west.”
I remember attending Carols by Candlelight when it was still located in the middle.

This is a memorial/statue that was moved, I don’t know when, and now sits to the left, when standing on the steps of old parliament and looking towards the lake, near where the aboriginal tent embassy is located. I think it’s to King George the IV.