Crystal Wave, 1989. Stainless steel.
Image copyright Effy Alexakis 2002.

gallery - catalogue - page five

Then I was given permission to do a large work, similar to the one for Japan. It stands in the front atrium of the Ernst and Young building in Kent Street.

But there weren't many commissions. Sculpture wasn't really accepted at that time: we were considered a bit weird... But sculpture now has really taken off. And I'm not patting myself on the back, but I do think we've done something about it, you and I. I couldn't have done it without your enthusiasm and encouragement. And John Robertson [who worked in Buildings and Grounds]. You and John and myself, we were the ones who started the Sculpture Park.

It was such a beautiful campus, it just needed it, didn't it? I've always been in love with this campus. It all happened because of a leaky tap in a flat I owned in Epping Road that I had to fix. It was a morning in May, such a beautiful morning. I went for a walk across the campus, and I had an idea. You know one must never throw an idea away. If you get a good idea, it's got to be used.

So I knocked on the door of Buildings and Grounds and said, 'Help, who should I see about doing a Sculpture Park?'

Jan Bohan took me by the ear and marched me to you... And within an hour of having the idea, it was all agreed.

Postscript by Di Yerbury, Vice-Chancellor:

I remember that. He said that he had an offer that he hoped I couldn't refuse, and that we should get together to explore it. But first he and other sculptors wanted to congratulate me because I had such a beautiful Sculpture Park at Macquarie. 'I have?' I said, surprised. 'But where are all the sculptures?'

'Ah,' said Errol meaningfully, 'that's where we come in...'

Now it's Australia's biggest public Sculpture Park, and this year Errol received the OAM in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, in part for his work in curating the Sculpture Park over the past decade.

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