Alice in Wonderland (Sculpture By The Sea 5) by Rod MacRae

Rod McRae, the artist is a sculptor, photographer, educator, illustrator and children's book author.

This park at Tamarama Beach once was the home of Wonderland City, a fun park that drew thousands of people to Tamarama Beach between 1906 and 1911. "Founded by theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson, Wonderland City took up eight hectares of Tamarama Gully, at the western end of the beach, and featured entertainments hitherto unimagined in Australia, including the country's first open-air ice rink, a double-decker merry-go-round and an artificial lake. There were waxworks, a seal pond and an aquarium, plus the Airem Scarem, an airship that tracked on a cable from cliff to cliff. When not taking rides on Alice the resident elephant, crowds would gather to watch daredevil Jack Lewis rollerskate down a ramp, through a flaming hoop and into a tank full of sharks.

But despite pulling huge crowds, Wonderland City eventually ran into trouble. Tamarama locals resented having their beach blocked off and breakdowns of the Airem Scarem prompted several safety scares. The park was closed in 1911." (Sydney Morning Herald, October 11, 2008) Click on that link to find out more about this wonderful group, and the artist.

I adore this collection....it has an exuberance that is delightfully infectious. It makes you smile. But even so, it's not actually my absolute favourite of this years sculptures....we've got a way to go yet to that reveal!

NB The Alice referred to is Alice the Elephant, one of the chief attractions at Wonderland, not the story by Lewis Carroll! She is seen in the second, and last, photos.