Robert C Hitchcock
His first commission came in 1970 of the champion racehorse Aquanita, which competed in the Melbourne Cup in the early 1960s and was a quarter-life size. As Hitchcock’s reputation grew he received a number of similar commissions from the equestrian industries including racing, pacing, polo, and quarter horse racing.
These early works led in later life to Hitchcock receiving commissions for over-life-size equestrian commissions in Norseman, Merredin, and Moora, Western Australia as public works of art.
In the 1970s, Hitchcock began to receive increasingly significant recognition for his work. These include a series of sculptures of the Russian Ballet Dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Throughout his career, he has created sculptures of prominent and (in his own words) “interesting people”.
These include Leonard Cohen, Rod McKuen, Professor Ian Constable, Beethoven, Robbie Burns (for the Robbie Burns Society), and many prominent Australian public and sporting figures.
Towards the end of the 1970s Hitchcock’s bronzes took on a larger scale, which was particularly suited for public art commissions – the most significant of which is, almost certainly, his sculpture of Yagan.
From the mid-1970s, members of the Noongar community lobbied for the erection of a statue of Yagan as part of the WAY 1979 sesquicentennial celebrations. Their requests were refused, however, after the Premier, Charles Court was advised by one prominent historian that Yagan was not important enough to warrant a statue.
The Noongar community then established a Yagan Committee and eventually raised sufficient funds to commission Hitchcock to create a statue. The result was a life-size statue in bronze, depicting Yagan standing naked with a spear held across his shoulders. Hitchcock’s statue of Yagan was officially opened by Yagan Committee chairperson Elizabeth Hanson on 11 September 1984. It stands on Heirisson Island in the Swan River near Perth.
Hitchcock moved into his larger studio (which he currently works from) in 2000 and continues to be highly sought after and collectable. A recent high-profile commission was for the SAS Garden of Reflection in Perth. This consists of three larger-than-life-size SAS figures in various uniforms from 1957 (the inception of the SAS in Australia) with the remaining two in modern combat uniforms and weapons. These commissions are highly accurate in detail and give a true representation of the Australian SAS soldier.
