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FOREWARD TO

"THE STORY OF THE THUNDERBOLT STATUE AT URALLA"

In 1988, a statue of the bushranger, Thunderbolt, was unveiled in Uralla.  Since that time, the statue has been a major tourist attraction for the town.  It is a high quality piece of art located in a very prominent position on the New England Highway.

The many visitors who admire the statue would be unaware of the history involved from the time of the original idea to the day of its ultimate unveiling.The history is controversial.

The project involved a tremendous amount of voluntary work by a number of people in the Uralla community.

Bev Niland has done us all a favour by committing the time and energy to document the events surrounding the project and setting them out in a very readable and well balanced form.  Bev has dealt with fact, rather than assumption and has presented details of actual recommendations made and resolutions adopted concerning the project.

Personally, Bev was very heavily involved in the project at the time.  She was therefore in a sound position to allow her to complete the associated research and produce a very valuable and entertaining story to assist in the recording of this part of Uralla's fabulous history.

Robert G. Fulcher

General Manager, Uralla Shire Council

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PREAMBLE

On a Friday afternoon, 26th August, 1983, at a meeting of the 1st Uralla Brownie Pack, the girls were sent to their “corners” in their “Sixes” to try to think up a suitable project for Uralla to mark the Bicentenary in 1988.

Their ideas were then brought to a “Pow Wow”, and one of those chosen to be submitted from the Pack was a “statue of Thunderbolt on a horse in the park”. This suggestion was made by Debbie O’Brien. She was eight years old.

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On a Sunday afternoon, 4th September, 1988, a statue of the bushranger “Thunderbolt” was unveiled by Ray Chappell, MP, Member for Northern Tablelands, in front of an estimated crowd of over 2,00 people, many of them were dressed in period costume. It was one of the largest number of people ever assembled together, at one time, in Uralla. Since that time, the statue has been a major tourist attraction for the town. It is a high quality piece of art located in a very prominent position on the New England Highway in the centre of the town.

The many visitors who admire the statue would be unaware of the history involved from the time of the original idea to the day of its ultimate unveiling. The history is controversial.

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I have endeavored to record the unexpected and sometimes almost unbelievable chain of events which ensued over the five years which culminated in the linking of these two events. It became a controversial issue, with a large amount of media coverage, and claims that it would be “glorifying a criminal”.

I was totally amazed that an eight year old child had the vision to see what grown adults could not – that a statue would simply be taking advantage of an existing tourist attraction for Uralla, which would encourage tourists to stop in our town, The fact that Thunderbolt could be regarded as a criminal was a side issue, not even considered at all significant in the anticipated outcome and result of the project, and was certainly not the reason for its proposal.

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 The book has an excellent collection of photos of the building and erection of the statue and a series of photo of the Bi-Centenary ceremonies at the unveiling of the statue. There are many of the local families in costumes as they had reenactment of the chasing of Thunderbolt through the town of Uralla.

 Bev Niland is to be congratulated for the work she has done in producing this excellently researched book on the planning and construction of the Thunderbolt Statue in Uralla. The Statue has helped the Tourism industry in Urally over the last 20 years. Thank you Bev Niland. BJS