Brass Monkey - Stanthorpe, Qld, Australia
S 28° 39.353 E 151° 56.041
56J E 395828 N 6829674
This COOL figurative sculpture on the SW corner of Maryland and Railway Streets, Stanthorpe gets quite a few tourists to stop and check it out. Being 800 m above sea level it does get cold here.
Waymark Code: WMPA1V
Location: Queensland, Australia
Date Posted: 07/27/2015
Views: 8
From the plaque:
"In long ago wars artillerymen had a brass plate called a 'monkey', which sat on the ground along side the cannon. This plate held 30 iron cannonballs stacked pyramid-like, until on freezing nights the monkey would shrink and the balls would fall off, hence the expression 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'."
"This friendly chap is showing relief having protected the last two balls on the plate. Resemblance to any person is unplanned, purely accidental."
In keeping with Stanthorpe’s reputation as the coolest place in Queensland, at the sculpture’s unveiling nationally acclaimed folk singers, Penny Davis and Roger Ilott performed ‘The Monkeys Sing Soprano.’ The music was composed by local resident Roger Ilott who collaborated with Warwick based folklorist Bill Scott.