Statue, which is now in front of Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building, had been in storage in Ireland for almost 40 years

John Bruton, a former taoiseach of Ireland, objected to a decision to gift a statue of Queen Victoria to Australia 30 years ago, declassified Irish cabinet papers show.



The statue was sent despite the opposition of then finance minister Bruton and the director of the director of the National Museum of Ireland, John Teahan. It has stood outside Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building ever since.

The Irish Times reported that then taoiseach Garret FitzGerald backed the plan to send the statue, which was originally unveiled at Dublin’s Leinster House in 1908, to Australia.



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However, Teahan wrote a memo objecting to the plan because it was the work of an Irish artist, John Hughes. “I advise that such a figure be retained and protected until we have grown up sufficiently to look that Queen, long dead, straight in the eye,” Teahan said. Bruton took the same view when the matter came before cabinet.

“The minister for finance strongly objects to the removal of the Queen Victoria statue from Ireland. The monument is representative of one of the many traditions of Irish history. It is part of our heritage in no less a way than Norman or Viking remains,” said a memo.

“In the context of the Anglo Irish Agreement, in which reference has been made to the ‘two traditions’, the minister for finance sees great danger in publicly jettisoning a figure of the second tradition. The repercussions for the government from such an act would far outweigh any minor adverse publicity that might arise if the Australian request were refused.”

Despite the objections, the cabinet agreed to send the statue to Australia “on loan until recalled”.

After Irish independence from the UK in 1922, Leinster House became the home of Ireland’s parliament, the Dáil, and the statue stayed there until 1948 when it was moved to storage after decades of protests from politicians.

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At one point the statue was due to be sent to the city of London, Ontario, but neither the Canadian nor Irish governments were willing to pick up the transport tab. But in June 1986, Ireland’s ambassador to Australia, Joseph Small, received a request from the office of the lord mayor of Sydney, Doug Sutherland, asking if it would be possible to send Queen Victoria to Australia on loan.

“For over two years we have been searching the world in vain for a life-size bronze statue of Queen Victoria. We have looked to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Yemen, etc all to no avail. Yesterday, just when we were giving up hope we received advice that there is stored in Dublin a fine bronze statue of Queen Victoria ... it appears to be ideal to locate it in front of the Queen Victoria Building looking towards the town,” said the letter from Sutherland’s office.

FitzGerald received a letter from Niall Glasser, director of promotion for the Sydney project, saying a loan or a gift of the statue would be accepted with gratitude. “There it would stand as a constant reminder of the permanent bond and friendship between our two countries,” he said, adding that the statue would be properly maintained.