The forest-green painted wooden bench is about 5 foot wide, and made up of multiple narrow slats of timber, with a pronounced curving shape at the top of the backrest, and front of the seat. The paint on this bench is in quite good condition. The two outer supporting metal straps are welded to metal posts, that are set into a concrete pad beneath a sprawling fig tree, while the central strap provides extra strength and support. The slat that the cast bronze plaque is inset into is about twice the width of the other slats. The plaque has a textured black background, and is held in place with two rusty Philips-head, counter-sunk screws. It reads:
In Memory of DAVID FINLAYSON MACSWAN PHD (1959-2011).
Founder and creative director of Shakespeare by the Sea.
Who pioneered outdoor Shapspearean Theatre at
the Balmoral Rotunda and brought pleasure to
Balmoral audiences on summer nights for 25 years.
"Soar above the view of men"
In 2012 a memoriam announcement was placed in the Sydney Morning Herald, with just a small amount of extra information: 11 December 1959 - 14 January 2011 - David Macswan
The previous year an article was written for his death with some of the following excerpted from that:
"Days after making his statement, while his production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was playing, MacSwan was taken ill at his Mosman home. His partner, Ruth Cullen, was at his side and despite the hard work of an ambulance crew, MacSwan died, felled by a pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis. He was 51.
"MacSwan was the ebullient, knowledgable and seemingly indefatigable guiding light of Shakespeare by the Sea and a pioneer in the invention of a distinctively Australian brand of Shakespeare.
"MacSwan was a scholar and he taught English and drama to high school students but he always regarded Shakespeare as more than just a text for analysis. For him, an understanding of a play could be reached only through its performance...
"David Finlayson MacSwan was born on December 10, 1959, one of two sons of the celebrated journalist, editor and author Norman MacSwan and his wife Gillian, nee Owen, an actor and drama teacher. David and his brother, Andrew (who died in 2002), were predestined for careers immersed in words." [ex-Sydney Morning Herald, 28 January, 2011 David MacSwan]
Address: Balmoral Reserve, Edwards Bay Road, Mosman, NSW, 2088, Australia
Visited: 2004, Wednesday, 26 December, 2018