William Ricketts Sanctuary, Mount Dandenong, Victoria
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339199)
Rockingham, Australia
June 27, 2018 7:13pm CST
William Ricketts was born in Richmond, Victoria in 1898. He was a self-trained potter and sculptor who created a Sanctuary in Mount Dandenong where he settled permanently in 1934. His vision was of an Australia which would embrace aboriginal spirituality and respect for the natural world.
He created the sculpture park in 1934 and worked on this project until his death in 1993. The sculptures are made of white ball clay and rocks were positioned especially to create the walk through the Sanctuary. He had a great affinity with the bush animals on his block and revered every stone and tree.
His first house was relocated from Melbourne and was very primitive with an earthen floor as per his preference. The log cabin was later moved to its present position where it is used as an Audio Visual display room. He refused to have a large stone removed and the cabin has an alcove around the stone which now has ‘The Elder’ sitting on top. This is the photo I’ve used here.
From 1949 to 1960 he made frequent visits to Central Australia, living with several aboriginal tribes and adopting the lyrebird as his totem. Willian lived in the cabin until 1962. Around this time the Government of Victoria bought the Sanctuary from Ricketts. In the 70s he spent two years in India. While William was living in India, the government built him a new brick residence which included a new kiln and gallery area. The new kiln enabled him to produce larger works.
William wanted to inspire visitors to feel at one with the land alongside the birds, animals, forest, mountains, deserts, rocks and water. He hoped this would lead to a desire by people to protect rather than destroy the environment.
It is certainly a very peaceful sanctuary, designed to refresh the spirit while wandering along the paths among the tall mountain ash trees and lush ferns. There are over 90 sculptures to view almost all of them of aboriginal people and the native animals.
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11 responses
@dgobucks226 (35553)
•
28 Jun 18
Very interesting read! The Aboriginals were the first settlers of Australia as you well know.
3 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
28 Jun 18
An interesting place to spend some time in!
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@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Jun 18
That is the kind of interesting place I would visit. I never heard of white ball clay.
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@JudyEv (339199)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Jun 18
I'm not sure what it is although I presume it's white. From Wikipedia: 'Ball clays are kaolinitic sedimentary clays that commonly consist of 20–80% kaolinite, 10–25% ... They are fine-grained and plastic in nature, and, unlike most earthenware clays, produce a fine quality white-coloured pottery body when fired.
These weren't 'white' but were light-coloured. Some were covered in moss and have weathered over the years.
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@Tampa_girl7 (50156)
• United States
28 Jun 18
I love reading about all of your travels
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@JudyEv (339199)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Jun 18
How 'bout that? It is lovely country up there. The trees are magnificent.
@JudyEv (339199)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Jun 18
It is set in rainforest so was pretty damp and earthy.