IT was Broken Hill’s answer to the Dog on the Tucker box display and sat at the Stephens Creek pub before heading into the Silver City.
In December 1980, Women’s Weekly featured a story on artist Pro Hart and his steel bull ant.
As the story went to print, the steel ant was installed outside the Stephens Creek pub, “an old stagecoach stop 16km from Broken Hill on the dusty road to Tibooburra” the article reported.
The ant, about eight metres long and standing about 12 metres in the air on top of a wooden mine poppet head, was a sudden inspiration.
“You know the Dog on the Tucker Box at Gundagai? Well, this will be the Ant on the Poppet Head at Broken Hill,” Pro told the magazine.
Pro was a fan of bull ants, and his own tenacity and bustle remind you of one, the reporter Keith Finlay noted.
“People don’t notice ants,” he said. “They are smart. You can’t walk past some of the big bull ants – they turn around and follow you.
“They are not like insects, they’re almost human — when they bite, you remember it. I was going to build a bigger ant but couldn’t get any backing, so I had to give up the idea.
“This one is made from scraps – to use ordinary cut steel would spoil the artist effect.”
According to Monument Australia, the statue was eventually moved to its current location in Broken Hill, “but only after it was donated to the city in 1990 to stand alongside the Tourist Information Centre” the website reported.
The Visit Bourke website states the Big Ant Sculpture is dedicated to the workers of Broken Hill and their struggles.
The front inscription of the ant says, “Dedicated to the workers of Broken Hill & their struggles to extract the wealth we all live from”.
“Built in 1980 at the Stephens Creek Hotel, the Big Ant was designed by artist Pro Hart,” the Visit Bourke website said.
“The statue was eventually moved to its current location in Broken Hill after it was donated to the city in 1990 to stand across from the Visitor Information Centre in the Conservation Gardens.
“The gardens were established as a joint project between the Broken Hill City Council, Country Energy and the Environmental Lead Centre to highlight the plant species that can be successfully grown in the local region with our hot, dry climate and low rainfall.”
The plaque in front of the sculpture states it “represents the dedication that each miner must show to his mates. Underground he is important only as a member of a team working as closely together as ants in common interest.
“No matter what a miner’s personal feelings are towards another miner, he cannot let them interfere. In this way, he learns tolerance.
“The sculpture was inspired by Proverbs VI, VI: Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.”
