| Place | Oceania: Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Canberra |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | ART90774 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Overall: 30.4 x 31.0 x 18.2 cm |
| Object type | Sculpture |
| Physical description | plaster reinforced with fibre, watercolour wash, pencil grid marks |
| Maker |
Bowles, Leslie Ewers, Raymond Boultwood |
| Place made | Australia: Victoria, Melbourne |
| Date made | c. 1939 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Mountain devil gargoyle
Description
This plaster model for a gargoyle depicts the head of a mountain devil. The plaster model was created in the studio of William Leslie Bowles in Melbourne with the assistance of sculptor, Ray Ewers. In 1940 and 1941 the plaster cast was used as the template for a stonemason to carve an in-situ sandstone gargoyle in the cloisters of the Commemorative Courtyard of the Australian War Memorial.
The Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus) is an Australian lizard that is also known as the Thorny Dragon, the Mountain Devil, the Thorny lizard, or the Moloch. The thorny devil grows up to 20 cm in length, and it can live up to 20 years. Most of these lizards are coloured in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans. These colours change from pale colours during warm weather and to darker colours during cold weather. These animals are covered entirely with conical spines.The Thorny Devil also has a spiny "false head" on the back of its neck, and the lizard presents this to potential predators by dipping its real head.