Action Figures

The Travellers Come From Many Lands

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

With the brilliant blue skies we had on Wednesday, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to give you a Sky Watch Friday post that takes you to the heart of Melbourne, both visually and culturally. As you can see by the photograph above, the quality of light was so strong that the shadows were almost summer-like in their clarity and definition.

These striking metal figures - called The Travellers and designed by Nadim Karam and Atelier Hapsitus - are several metres high and they are a terrific barometer of Melbourne's fickle weather. In cloudy or overcast conditions, the figures look gun-metal grey, but in sunny weather, they cast a unique silvery gleam. So on Wednesday, as the clouds began to clear at lunchtime, The Travellers were at their shiny metallic best.

They stand on the old Sandridge Bridge and they tell a tale of many lands, many races, many bold ventures by migrants who left their native shores and journeyed to this sunburnt country. As a migrant myself, I find they are a wonderful expression of pride, reflecting this city's multi-cultural heritage.

The Sandridge Bridge was built in 1888, the first metal bridge across the Yarra River. It was a rail bridge and it ran diagonally across the river, forming an important link between Port Melbourne and the new city that was part of John Batman’s great vision.

When the bridge was decommissioned in 1987, a year before I came to live in Melbourne, it fell into disrepair. Several points of view were aired on what should be done with the bridge and in 2006, just before the opening of the Commonwealth Games here in Melbourne, the refurbished bridge was unveiled.

The bridge is now a walkway and there are 128 glass panels on either side that commemorate each nation from which people migrated to Melbourne. The individual glass panels can be seen in the photo above and each has the name of a country emblazoned on it. But the piece de resistance, without doubt, is the nine giant steel sculptures named The Travellers. Three times each day, the huge figures slide soundlessly back and forward across the bridge.

Shortly after they were unveiled, I walked across the bridge to stand under their shadow while each traversed the huge span of the bridge. There is nothing more than a muted whirring as each figure slides seamlessly into place and the others follow in a parade of quiet majesty.

Each figure represents the different waves of settlers, from the early convicts to the Gold Rush-era prospectors, as well as the refugees and the modern professionals.

And what, you might well ask, of this land's most ancient inhabitants? There is a tenth figure (above) built on a giant plinth, that is stationary on the south bank of the river. It represents Victoria's Aboriginal communities, for whom this spot by the life-sustaining river was a traditional meeting place.

Migrants no longer cross this historic bridge. Migrants no longer make a many-layered journey across this historic stretch of water. But The Travellers, who traverse it instead, remind us all - every one of us - how boldly we strode from the lands of our birth to come here.

For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch Friday.