Gate Expectations

What The Dickens Is This?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

These are, quite literally, the gates that never close. They are gates in name only, for they never swing shut on their huge metal hinges,

As you walk up the main stairwell at Southbank here in Melbourne, the overwhelming impression is that of a wide open space. In a brilliant architectural marriage of design and natural light, you are presented with a broad expanse in front of you, leading to a high glass atrium and an arcade which in turn takes you through to an open-air courtyard en route to some famous workplaces.

But I'm tipping that I could show these photographs to many people who work in the area or who visit it frequently - and a certain percentage of them would not recognise the unique figures in these images.


These are the famous Southbank gates and each is about a metre and a half long. They are located near the top of the stairwell, just where the walls are painted a rich ochre that is redolent of the Outback.

Just for the record, the gates are never closed. And precisely because of that, some folk never really pay attention to the little figures atop each spike on the gates. If they had to walk through or around these pieces of art, people would remember them. But because they are in the background, they more or less form a mural, rather than a potential barrier.

I don't know who created the gates or how he or she forged each figure. But rest assured that when I do, you'll be the first to know.


For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.