The Ore Obelisk (Harmony of Minerals) installation, the ‘Kebab‘, now has a permanent home in the City of Perth’s Council House foyer. Designed by architect Paul Ritter in 1971 to commemorate 1 million residents in WA, it was about 50 years old.
After being taken down in 2021, the move drew protests from the local art advocacy group Save The Kebab. For a while, the sculpture’s future was uncertain, with talks of digital preservation. Read more about the Ore Obelisk’s journey from the Sterling Gardens to a physical display in the Council House below.
The Kebab (Ore Obelisk) will have a commemorative display in the Council House foyer
Before finishing 50 years at the Stirling Gardens outside the City of Perth’s Council House, the Kebab was dismantled into pieces and placed in storage.
Two pieces of rock, weighing 60 kilos and 80 kilos respectively, fell off the sculpture. Then, a structural report claimed it had reached “the end of its life.” Subsequently, officers recommended a $75,000 digital restoration in its original location, currently occupied by a graffiti-covered Boonji Spaceman. Shocked by the new installation over a piece of local history, critics openly voiced their disagreement.
The idea of a digital display was rejected by Save the Kebab and eventually deferred at the April 29 Council meeting. On May 26, the city council voted in favour of a physical commemoration (5-1) in the Council House foyer. This makes the Obelisk part of the City of Perth’s Cultural Collections.
$118,000 has been expensed for the display. The Save the Kebab Instagram page lamented the loss of the Ore Obelisk, saying this amount could’ve conserved it. Nonetheless, the group considers this decision a win for Perth’s public art and unique culture.
More about the Kebab
The Ore Obelisk Artwork in Stirling Gardens has been a major landmark of Perth’s history since 1971. A 15-metre-long oil drill pipe with fifteen ore samples, the sculpture represented WA’s main mineral deposits. Dodecahedron (Diamond) from Kimberley Region, Magnesite (Magnesium) from Ravensthorpe, and Manganese Ore (Manganese) from Woodie Woodie are three samples in the Kebab.
