Tripping hazard thylacine sculptures shift to new home
Ethan James |
Tasmanian tiger sculptures removed from a city mall because they posed a tripping hazard will soon be installed in a new garden home.
Launceston City Council in March voted to shift the bronze thylacines commissioned in 2018, from Brisbane Street Mall to Civic Square.
The sculptures, originally intended as children’s play items, have proven divisive, with community members complaining they were a potential hazard.
Several people have required medical treatment after tripping on them.
In 2019, a woman said she fractured her thumb, grazed her hands and bruised her knees when she took a tumble.
Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood said the thylacines had also impacted the mall’s functionality for events, such as the annual lighting of the Christmas tree.
Mr Garwood said installation of the sculptures in garden beds at Civic Square would be completed next week.
“A set of stencilled thylacine footprints and facts will also be placed in Civic Square, challenging children and those young at heart to find all the sculptures throughout the space,” he said.
“We know that the thylacine sculptures are particularly popular with young children, and we expect that will continue to be the case.”
The last real Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 in captivity in Hobart, with extensive hunting at the hands of colonists largely to blame for the species’ extinction.
AAP
