Artist: Pietro Giacomo Porcelli
Year of Work: 1911
Location: 1 Cliff St, Fremantle WA 6160
Asset Type: Memorial/ Permanent
Provenance: City of Fremantle
Description:
The memorial committee sought designs for a memorial to Charles Yelverton O’Connor, the engineer of Fremantle Harbour, throughout the Commonwealth. Seventeen designs were submitted and were judged by Messrs. Bernard H. Woodward (Director of the WA Museum and Art Gallery), J.W.R. Linton and Joseph Allen (Mayor of East Fremantle and honorary architect on the Memorial Committee). Pietro Porcelli was given the commission, depicting O’Connor bare-headed, standing with one foot forward and arms folded; his left hand holds scrolled plans for the Harbour, and the right hand rests under his chin as he gazes across the Harbour. The panels depict the Mundaring Weir, the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, the Fremantle Harbour and the Parkville (Swan View) tunnel in the hills. Embedded in the front of the monument is a memorial wreath to O’Connor who took his life in 1902.
Image Source: Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)