Summary

Sculpture 'The Gold Panner', created by Mr. Leon Wolowski in 1983. Leon arrived in Australia from Poland in 1949. When he retired in 1975 he took up sculpting. His works fall into two main categories, both of which depict ways of life which have long since disappeared. One of these is a collection of sculptures depicting the life of Jews in a Shtetl in Poland. The other group is 'The Australian Pioneers'. This topic was chosen because it too represents a way of life that no longer exists.

This sculpture forms part of Leon's Australian Pioneers collection, which illustrates the shared experiences of 'The Australian Pioneers' of the nineteenth century. The collection includes images of men working on the goldfields, men living and working in the bush, a convict and interaction between Aborigines and whites. Many of the sculptures depict life in the bush illustrating the theme of rural Victoria. Others show images of the working lives of men and women on the gold fields.

Physical Description

Clay sculpture of a man, in a crouched position, panning for gold. The man is dressed in long pants and heavy boots, he is wearing a shirt and a waist coat, his shirtsleeves are rolled up, and there is a battered looking hat on his head. He has a full beard and a moustache. In his hands he holds a big wide shallow pan, with some tiny rocks on the edge of the pan. He is on a rectangular clay base and behind him is a slatted tub filled with rocks.

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