In the heart of Chancery Square (Hyde Park, Sydney) stands a regal reminder of a powerful era: a statue commemorating Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The bronze figure, perched upon a granite pedestal, gazes out with a composed dignity, a visual echo of the values and principles associated with the Victorian age.

History

The statue was placed on a granite pedestal which stood for many years between St James’s Church and the Hyde Park Barracks at the top of King-street. In January 1888 Lady Carrington performed the unveiling ceremony. The statue was considered one of the celebrated sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm’s best works. Her Majesty is represented in her royal robes; she wears the crown, and carries in either hand the sceptre and orb. The statue is of bronze and is about 11ft 6in in height. The statue was too large to be made in one single casting, and the body, head, and arms were cast separately with the casting done at Moore’s foundry, Thames Ditton in England, and witnessed by a couple of Australians.

Queen Victoria was so impressed with her representation that she chose a replica of it for erection at her Balmoral estate. Her Majesty is represented in a regal dress, handsomely draped with a long train embroidered with emblems of the rose, shamrock, and thistle. On the breast are the ribbon and star of the Garter, in the right hand is the sceptre pointing downwards, and in the left the orb. On the head is placed an Imperial crown.

Apparently a statue originally intended for this pedestal was destroyed in the great Exhibition-building fire.

The statue serves not just as a historical marker, but as a constant, silent observer of the evolving landscape of justice and society, a tangible link to a past that continues to shape the present.