Monday, August 31, 2009

Exhibition: Save the Cerberus


picture by Regina Hona

I will be honest, before receiving this media release neither of us had heard of the Cerberus. I honestly had no idea what this exhibition was for but then I'm not really a Melbourne local and I live on North side. 

A bit of research and now I think this is a really important. I love history and The HMVS Cerberus is a little piece of Melbourne's Naval History. It's a Melbourne icon. Built in 1868, Cerberus is the only surviving Ironclad Monitor in the world, and the oldest surviving Warship to have served in the Royal Australian Navy. 

Since the 1920's HMVS Cerberus has been serving as a Breakwater off Black Rock in Port Phillip Bay. Now I am having a bit of trouble finding out why exactly the Cerberus ending up here so if anyone knows please leave us a comment. 

So the Cerberus has survived 140 years but it is in danger of collapse if it does not receive external bracing. The Save the Cerberus campaign has only received a fraction of the amount needed to avoid the total collapse of the heritage listed ship. 

Tamsin Davidson of Pivotal Galleries and the Friends of the Cerberus are putting on a Special Save the Cerberus Art Exhibition 7-18 October 2009 It will featuring many new original artworks by leading contemporary Australian artists, alongside paintings, photographs, a large model and artifacts from the ship including a huge 10 inch shell. 

Tamsin said " We hope we can provide a lot of extra publicity as the Government ponders if they should provide the roughly $2 million Cerberus needs."

The Grand Opening of the Exhibition at 6.30pm on 7th October 2009 will feature many VIP guests & members of the 'Victorian Navy' in full 19th Century Naval rig. A proportion of the profits from sales of paintings going to the Save the Cerberus campaign.



Picture by Darren Doye

SPECIAL SAVE THE CERBERUS EXHIBITION
DATE: OCTOBER 7- 18 , 2009
GRAND OPENING NIGHT- SPECIAL SAVE THE CERBERUS EXHIBITION
DATE: October 7,2009
TIME: 6.30-9pm
PLACE: PIVOTAL GALLERIES, 
442 BRIDGE ROAD 
RICHMOND Vic 3121.

For further information please contact: Pivotal Galleries
 442 Bridge Road Richmond VIC 3121
Tel: 03 9429 7755 

5 comments:

  1. I've given you two an award! Come by and pick it up :]

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  2. im from the north side and dont often get down to the beach very often but now i want to go and check it out! can you actually see it from the beach?

    i would love to know why it end up here too!

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  3. Well it was sold for scrap in 1924, and used as a breakwater in 1926. I guess back then it was just a hunk of junk, rather than the historically significant vessel it is today. It's a bit slack the government isn't doing more to save it. Wish I could be there to support.

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  4. sold as scrap metal?? that is crazy!

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  5. Yeah unfortunately that's how most old ex-Navy vessels end up. Many a historic warship has been lost to the scrapper's blowtorch. You could look at the bright side: it's lucky the whole thing wasn't broken up and made into spoons.

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