Taras Shevchenko Monument (Canberra, ACT) | interesting place

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This is the monument to Taras Shevchenko — a bronze sculpture from Ukrainian sculptor Anatoly Valiev (Анатолій Валієв) of a symbolized bandura, a Ukrainian national instrument that was used by bards, with relief images from Shevchenko's poems. This was a gift from the Kyiv Regional Council to Australia and was originally planned to be installed at the front of the Ukrainian Central School in Lidcombe, NSW. The then current head of the Ukrainian Council of NSW, Mr Yaroslav Duma, and the board of the Council were not able to organize its installation in Lidcombe, nor anywhere else in Sydney and it remained forgotten for a number of years in storage. The embarrassing neglect of this gift from Ukraine resulted in the story being profiled by SBS Government radio. Frustrated with the lack of interest in this issue, a small group of artists organized the transport of the bronze monument and its installation at the Ukrainian Orthodox Centre in Canberra, ACT. Although not an ideal location, this was the only option given the lack of official help from the NSW and National Ukrainian Councils.