A new sculpture has been installed in Bundeena with hopes of several more to follow.
The sculpture which is mounted on a stone plinth is located near the playground of Roger Summers Reserve on the corner of Brighton St and Bundeena Drive.
It was created by local artist Lee Bethel and is titled Nesting. The bronze cast tree form holding a nest mirrors the tree landscape surrounding our community and is a reflection of the human habitation in Bundeena’s bushland environment.
The sculpture was made possible by the efforts of the Bundeena Maianbar Chamber of Commerce and thru a grant by Sutherland Shire Council. Chamber committee member Marion Stehouwer hopes over time a number of sculptures will be installed throughout Bundeena Maianbar and indicated a second sculpture has already been purchased and will be installed in the new year.
The new sculpture has also inspired local Anne Kelly to write a poem about it.
Precarious.
Perched in the sparse branch
Of a twisted tree
Rests the tender nest
Open handed offering to raiders
Buffeted by seasons’ winds
Its host deeply rooted in the
Sandstone
Which stands above the bay
Surrounding its waters
Founding its depths
Laying down
Its lucent grains
Along beach and shoreline.
Precarious.
The house on the ridgeline
Looking south
Above the crowded tree line
To the storm conjured clouds and
Wild winds of steamy summer days.
Billowing down to calm cabbage palmed
Depths of lagoon below.Precarious.
Lives lived within this place.
Dharawal custodians
Blessed by quiet waters
Untouched bush
Surveyed out of view
By ordered streets of
England’s towns.
Precarious.
Depression days of bay side shacks
Fishermen in salt sprayed caves
Wartime men who couldn’t cope
With peacetime’s unbelief
Precarious.
Lives lived within this space.
Communities of people moving through
Held together by the
open handed offering
Of a nesting place.
This place beside the bay.
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Two dogs in a house, on a boat in the water