Charlie the news hound back on duty

ONE of Newcastle’s most famous pieces of public art has returned to its spot outside the Newcastle law courts on Hunter Street.

Charlie, the paparazzi dog, has rejoined his bunny-headed partner outside property developer Jeff McCloy’s Hunter Street offices after he was removed in recent months for repairs.

The 150-kilogrambronze sculpture of adog-headed photographer pointing his lens toward the court steps, wheremedia types
loiter through the week hoping to bag a front-page photo, was initially intended as a cheeky dig by the former lord mayor, but has since become one of the city’s most loved installations.

Charlie is a favourite for visitors who stop almost daily for a photo with the whimsical pair, but sometimes that love turns rough as late-night hoons and wayward kids have been known to climb the art.

Mr McCloy, whose extensive collection of public art includes bird and koala statues at Medowie, a cow at Lochinvar, a pelican
and fish at Teralba, an 800-kilogram bronze gorilla, and the imposing timber sculpture of a breaching whale currently installed at Fort Scratchley, considers Charlie one of his favourite pieces.

“I love that dog, but people come and put their kids on them or hang on them,” Mr McCloy told Topics in January, “It drives
you mad.” Of course, Charlie and Rabbitwoman aren’t the only Gillie and Marc pieces in Mr McCloy’s collection.

The former lord mayor has earmarked 13 animal sculptures by the Sydney-based husband and wife artistic outfit for Mc- Cloy Group’s Loxford housing project on Cessnock Road near Maitland, joining other pieces at Edgeworth and Goonelabah, and yet another installation planned for the Driftwood Shores housing estate at Tuross Head on the south coast near Batemans Bay.

Driftwood Shores is also the destined home for Bleaching, the whale made from a 400-year-old fallen red gumcreated by Speers Point artist Michale Greve, on display at Fort Scratchley. Mr McCloy acquired the piece in June last
year after it won the Sculptures at Scratchley show in May.

“I think I’ve bought more public art in Newcastle than Newcastle City Council,” Mr McCloy joked last month. Mr McCloy, whose former home in Parkway Avenue, Bar Beach, features two rooftop cannons, has a penchant for buying large sculptures and paintings for his housing subdivisions and buildings and had Charlie installed in late 2018.

NEWCASTLE HERALD | 23rd FEB 2024
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