Photos of Down by the Lake with Liz and Phil

A sculpture by Greg Taylor

By Tom Worthington, April 1995

It's a pretty sad day for freedom of speech and freedom of expression when you can't even put a piece of art up without its opponents being able to control themselves

Mr. Greg Taylor quoted in the Canberra Times newspaper 17 April 1995.

Here are two photos of a sculpture by Greg Taylor entitled Down by the Lake with Liz.

Down by the Lake with Liz and Phil: front Down by the Lake with Liz and Phil: back

The sculpture caused considerable controversy during its short life. It portrayed a naked Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. It was part of a temporary outdoor exhibition and located on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin Canberra.

Behind and between the figures you may be able to see the flagpole of Australia's Parliament House. The figures face across the lake to Australia's War Memorial.

The sculpture was caught up in a national debate over the relevance of the monarchy to Australia.

The photos were taken on the morning of 14 April, a few days after the sculpture was erected. The head of the female figure had been stolen the previous night. Two days later the remains of the sculpture, by then extensively vandalised, were removed.

A few days before the ACS took part in a seminar in Parliament House on the appropriateness of regulation and censorship of the Internet. It is interesting to note that society is still trying to deal with these issues for a communications technology as old as sculpture.

This topic will form part of the closing address to the ACS Multinet'95 conference 13 May 1995.


This document designed by Tom Worthington of the Australian Computer Society.