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We would like to remind Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers that this post contains the name and image of a deceased person.
The 50th and final sandstone “grotesque” statue will be unveiled in the University of Queensland Grand Court today, completing a series of carvings begun in 1939.
Depicting the late Margaret Valadian AO MBE (1936-2023), Australia’s first Indigenous woman to complete a university degree, the statue was carved by official university sculptor Rhyl Hinwood AM CF.
University of Queensland sculptor Rhyl Hinwood AM CF with a grotesque clay model of Margaret Valadian AO MBE.
“I never thought the final grotesque would be completed in my lifetime, and I think the choice of subject is admirable,” Hinwood, 85, said.
The carvings of the Grand Palace were initiated by the first university sculptor, John Theodore Muller (1873-1953).
Hinwood took over the business in 1976 and completed hundreds of carvings, many of his own design, over a 35-year period.
Grotesques include UQ academics, literary characters and other mythical creatures.
Since 1993, 49 of them have looked down from the monastery walls, but so far one place remains empty.
Valadian was an advocate for Indigenous education and was posthumously awarded a UQ Honorary Doctorate.
