Liberators in Sydney

If you come out of Sydney's Central Station onto Chalmers Street, you will be confronted by a display of bust and statues. This is Sydney's Ibero American Plaza :

"First conceived in 1986 as a Bicentennial project, the Plaza Ibero Americana began as an idea to acknowledge the contribution of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking people to the history of Australia.

It was opened in 1988 and remodelled in 2000.

Located on Chalmers Street, Surry Hills, the Plaza Ibero Americana consists of two statues and 11 busts representing significant historical figures and Latin American national heroes.

It features a series of busts donated by nations including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay and Venezuela."

LINK

I visited it briefly yesterday, and took a few photos of the busts relevant to my interests in the South American Wars of Liberation.

First up is the bust of Bernardo O'Higgins.

The inscription reads:

"General Don Bernardo O’Higgins R. Liberator de Chile. / Nacido en Chilean el 20 de Agusto de 1778. / Fallecido en Lima (Peru) el 24 de Octobre de 1842. / Director supremo de la nacion (1817-23). / Organizador de la expedicion libertadora del Peru (20 Agusto de 1820). Liberator of Chile. / Born in Chilean August 20 1778. / Died in Lima (Peru) October 24 1824. / Supreme Director of the Nation 1817-23. Organizer of the Expedition to Liberate Peru August 20 1820."

Venezuela's contribution to the collection is, of course, Simon Bolivar.

His inscription reads:

"Simon Bolivar / (1783-1830) / This great thinker and statesman of Latin America was / born in Caracas. / Bolivar is remembered as the founder of La Gran / Colombia (The Great Colombia: Ecuador, Colombia & / Venezuela) and liberator of Bolivia, Colombia, / Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela."

And from Argentine we have Jose De San Martin. I took a few photos of this bust, mostly because I liked how the sunlight was catching it.

His inscription is short and simple:

"GENERAL JOSE DE SAN MARTIN / 1778-1850 / NATIONAL HERO OF ARGENTINA / LIBERATOR OF ARGENTINA, CHILE AND PERU"

And for the liberators, one I'd never heard of before - Bolivia's Juana Azurduy de Padilla.

I'll post her bio from the Sydney Arts page here:

"Juana Azurduy de Padilla (1781-1862) fought in the Bolivian wars for independence. When Bolivia declared its independence in 1809, her husband and herself raised a small army to fight for an independent republic. Her husband was killed early into the war, but Juana Azurduy de Padilla continued to fight against royalist forces until Bolivia became an independent republic in 1826 when Spanish forces were finally overthrown.

Juana Azurduy had managed to form a small “republiqueta” (little republic) with the territory her small army held. This republiqueta was basically under siege from 1810 until 1825 when other republican armies under Simon Bolivar were able to join her remote forces."

Her Wikipedia entry notes that when her husband was killed she led a cavalry charge in order to recover his body.

Her inscription reads:

"JUANA AZURDUY DE PADILLA / 12.07.1780-25.05.1862 / GUERILLA FIGHTER FOR / THE INDEPENDENCE OF BOLIVIA FROM SPANISH RULE"

The final bust I took a picture of is not a Liberator, but still of interest - Miguel Grau Seminaro, Peru's naval hero during the 1879-84 Pacific War, killed commanding the Huascar at the Battle of Angamos.

His inscription:

"LM A.P. MIGUEL GRAU SEMINARIO / “THE KNIGHT OF THE SEAS” / PIURA 1834- ANGAMOS 1879 / NATIONAL HERO OF THE REPUBLIC OF PERU / GREAT NAVIGATOR OF THE SEVEN SEAS, EMINENT POLITICIAN, UNIVERSAL MAN / AND PIONEER OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS / HE DIED IN ANGAMOS DURING THE PACIFIC WAR ON 8TH OCTOBER 1879

ALM A.P. MIGUEL GRAU SEMINARIO / “EL CABALLERO DEE LOS MARES” / PIURA 1834- ANGAMOS 1879 / HEROE NACIONAL DE LA REPUBLICA DEL PERU / EXIMIO NAVEGANTE DE LOS SIETE MARES, POLITICIO EMINENTE, HOMBRE UNIVERSAL, / Y PIONERO DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS. /MURIO EN ANGAMOS DURANTE LA GUERRA DEL PACIFICO, EL 8 DE OCTOBRE DE 1879."

Finally, here's a shot of the row of busts, with San Martin in the foreground.

Somehow I managed to miss the statue of Benito Juarez, so I'll have to look that up the next time I'm in Sydney.

Incidentally, for any of you i the UK, or visiting it, who have an interest in the Liberators, London has statues of San Martin, Francisco Miranda, Simin Bolivar and (in Richmond, of all places) Bernardo O'Higgins. I took some very bad photos of them a few years ago:

Click onto the image to go to the picture, where there are links to the individual components of the mosaic.