Tag: Cicerellos

Bon Finds a Home at Last

greg finishing touches on pedestal

While the world goes nuts over accadacca’s new album, in Fremantle, some quieter developments long overdue…

These pix were sent to me by Gabby and Darcy, courtesy of Greg James, the sculptor who made the bronze statue of Bon in Fremantle.

[The photos are by “Genm152”, whose handiwork can also be seen here: flickr.com/photos/fun4me/]

Finally, it seems that the statue has found a home at the fishing boat harbour. And by the looks of the photo above, it was worth waiting for Greg to finish the custom Marshal amp which is Bon’s pedestal. It looks amazing!

Here’s Bon being craned out of the ute on site:

bon crane ute fremantle

Here he is being forklifted into position:

bon forklift

And finally, the proud sculptor with his work:

bon with greg

Apparently, there was a ceremony yesterday to celebrate the final placement. Thanks to the kind anonymous soul who sent me through some photos and movies live from the event. Unfortunately, my mobile phone is so old, it struggles to read those big files.

Any chance of emailing through those pictures to me? lucas[at]bonscottblog[dot]com

update: (29 Oct 2008)

Andre from the Fremantle Arts Centre went along to the unveiling ceremony for the pedestal-and-statue. He said it was a surprisingly modest affair, considering the potential volume of Bon’s fan base. There has been a change of government in Western Australia, and the minister in charge of this bit of land, Alana McTiernan, is no longer in power. Apparently she was a big AC/DC enthusiast, and one imagines that her successor has different tastes. Anyway, the Mayor, Peter Tagliaferri, presided over the ceremony. Does anyone else who was there have anything to add to this brief account??

Andre took the following photos on the day (thanks to Jasmin for emailing them through). [By the way, you can click on these images to see them a bit bigger…]


unveiling at cicerellos

unveiling at cicerellos

Greasy Bon

bon in cicerello's

Hi Lucas,
Here’s one for the blog….. This beautiful sculpture of a beautiful man……. in a fish and chip shop!!!!! I urge all Bon Scott fans to protest or go and carry him out of there on their backs.
Yes we are pretty sad!
Cheers Gabx

So Bon’s Bronze Statue, after all the hoo-har about his final resting place, has actually wound up INSIDE the Cicerello’s fish and chip shop!!?? Wow, that’s news to me.

Originally, the idea was to have the bronzy Bon in pride of place in Fremantle town centre, near all the bronze prime ministers and important men. But that was poo-pooed by the local heritage lobby (or so the tale goes). Bon was an inappropriate figure to have in such a location (and besides, who knows what kind of undesirables he would attract to the streets…)

Then the state minister and acca dacca fan, Alanah McTiernan, stepped in, and offered the sliver of land on the water side of the railway tracks as a site for our little metal man. Because the state government controls this land, this solution would sidestep the machinations of the troublesome naysayers in local council.

If you want to read more about this history of Bon Scott ping pong, have a look at a few posts I wrote when I was in Western Australia. Here they are:
The Fine Details
21 Characters, 4 Lines

That was the last I had heard of the matter, until the email above came through from one of Bon’s oldest friends Gaby. I think Gaby must have found out through Crabsody in Blue (the mega Bon Scott tribute site), who, in turn, must have located the news on the website for Cicerellos (the fish and chip shop).

Admittedly, it’s a huge win for Cicerellos. Bon will really buffer their current “curiosity shoppe” which consists of a big canoe that was bitten in half by a shark, and a fishtank full of lobsters. Definitely giving them the edge over their chippy competitors.

But it’s a sad fall from grace, considering the two huge Bon Scott Celebration concerts that raised all the money for the statue to be built.

So what gives, Freo??