The Burnside Painting
Group is privileged to have had
John Dowie as a life member for many
years. His work has been an inspiration to all
Australians and to South Australians in particular.
John tutored at The Burnside Painting Group and at the
Adelaide Central School of Art in Norwood.     He was a
local man, being a resident of Dulwich since 1917.  So it is
appropriate that we in the Burnside Painting Group pay tribute
 to the life and work of this famous man.When I, as a newcomer
to Adelaide, set out to compile this tribute I was excited to find
how much of John  Dowie's work is on display in and around
Adelaide.  I  found  that  few words of mine were necessary
to evoke the pleasure of an artistic tour and be enchanted
by the splendid sculptures scattered in the streets and
spaces of my new city. So I invite you to join me
 as I take my first John Dowie tour of  Adelaide.

We start, with camera, on the Eastern side of the children's
 boat lake in Rymill Park to find a drinking fountain about 60cm high,
 

then over the lake using the wooden bridge to the
Western (city) side to find a 150cm tall "Alice"
of Alice in Wonderland dedicated to "The Children".

Now along North Terrace to Government House Wall for
three wonderfully lumpy John Dowie busts labelled
Mark Oliphant, Sir Mellis Napier and Lord Florey.

Mark Oliphant was a nuclear physicist of note and later the Governor of SA.
Sir Mellis Napier was Lt Governor of SA from 1942 until 1967.
Baron (Howard) Florey shared the Nobel Prize for his role in the extraction of penicillin.

Because this is a weekend tour we can't gain access to Parliament House
to see the Dowie bust of Sir Thomas Playford, so our next stop is the
Festival Centre Foyer where we find the busts of John Bishop, Professor
of music at the Adelaide University and Co-founder of the Adelaide Festival

and of Sir Robert Helpmann, the sensational South
Australian dancer, actor, director and choreographer.

Now a brisk walk up to Adelaide Oval and the Victor Richardson Gates
where we can admire the reliefs by John Dowie that celebrate
Richardson's sporting achievements in both football and cricket.

Another walk back down to the city and Rundle Mall
to see the lively "Slide"

Over to Victoria Square, the centre of the Colonel Light
designed city of Adelaide, where we see the
"once controversial" fountain by John Dowie.

It is said to be created on the theme of the "three rivers"
from which Adelaide draws it's water,
but I find the birds being readied for flight
more meaningful for my new city.

The next destination of our tour is Veale Gardens on South Terrace
and John Dowie's expressive Pan fountain located in the sunken rose garden.

No longer walking, we travel East
 to Burnside Council Chambers to see The Skater

Then West to Adelaide Airport and the
"Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith
Ware Memorial"
now hidden away near the disused domestic Terminal.

The Vickers Vimy winning crew, sculpted in stone by John Dowie

"Designed and built by Vickers Armstrong Ltd, this aircraft, named by its crew, "God 'Elp All Of Us", was the first aircraft to fly from England to Australia. On 12 November 1919, Captain Ross Smith and his brother Lieutenant Keith Smith and mechanics Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers, left Hounslow near London for Australia, taking up the challenge of Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who offered £10,000 on behalf of the Commonwealth Government for the first aviators to fly this distance in less than 30 days. Over the next 28 days they travelled the 11,060 miles, averaging 81 miles per hour over 131.35 hours, to land at Darwin on 10 December, 1919, and claim both the prize and a place in the records of aviation history. After a tour of Australia when the Vickers Vimy suffered from 'souveniring' and a period in the Canberra War Memorial, the plane was transported to Adelaide, being damaged by fire in the process. It was rebuilt from the original plans and stands now in the memorial at Adelaide Airport with John Dowie's stone sculptures of the crew, where it was unveiled in April, 1959".  -www.nationaltrustsa.org.au

___________

And finally, with hamper suitably packed for the beach,
we drive South to Kingston Park.

Further afield, and part of a different kind of tour, I discover more
 bronze busts of South Australian luminaries by John Dowie
in the Cellar Door of  the Rymill Winery in Coonawarra.

The first is of John Riddoch, who founded Coonawarra in 1890
and the other is of his grandson, John Riddoch Rymill, an acclaimed polar explorer.

        
Images kindly provided by Rymill Coonawarra 

In the main street of Penola stands a life size statue of Alexander Cameron,
the founder of the Coonawarra town of Penola.
Local man Peter Rymill tells me that John Dowie regarded it as the
best life-sized human figure that he had ever sculpted.

Image kindly provided by Rymill Coonawarra