The Boronia Mall
light sculpture.
You may have seen pictures of the
Boronia Mall in its opening days; these photos featured almost exclusively a
large eye-catching sculpture hanging from the ceiling above the stage in the foyer
of the centre.
The sculpture doubled as a chandelier
of sorts. It dropped a full six metres from the roof with three concentric
rings at its peak, the widest having a three metre diameter. Suspended from
these rings hung 9000 125 mm. mauve, amber & pink plastic discs. The
sculpture was not a light fixture but a means to diffuse the banks of twenty mercury
vapour lights, which gave the centre its bright, airy atmosphere.
You can still see the area and the
rails and fixtures from which it once hung.
The idea of the installation was
conceived and designed by the centre architects Buchan, Laird & Buchan,
while the builders T.H. Lustig and Mercator Lighting designed, constructed, and
installed the piece. Mercator, back then, was an emerging entity specialising
in budget light fittings like oyster lights and baton fixes, usually made of
Perspex and pressed aluminium, that were in huge demand during the popularity
of the building of apartments and flats in the 1960s & 70s.
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| 1973 |
The Managing Director of Mercator, Syd
Kleerkoper, boasted it was the first and largest light sculpture of its kind in
Australia. And who was to argue? It was an impressive piece that was a stylish
drawcard for the centre.
 |
| 2026 with original fixing point still in view. |
Now things get a bit murky. In 1986,
the centre went through a major refurbishment. Staircases were removed from the
car park and the Chandler Road ends. The carpark entrance stairs were replaced
with a single escalator, while the Chandler Road end stairs were removed,
including the rockery underneath to create more floor space. The walkway
leading to Kmart at the same end also had the bottom half of the tile work
covered with plaster and railing (perhaps even removed, no one is sure)
But somewhere in these upgrades, the
light structure “disappeared”.
While no one I’ve talked to has a
collaborative story to confirm the truth, the most accepted story is that a tip
truck backed into the mall one morning, and the whole sculpture was dropped,
complete with all parts still connected into the truck’s tray and driven away.
The reason?
Pictures are rare from anytime before
or after the refurbishments, though there are plenty after the Mall was sold in
1988, showcasing the crowds watching events on the then-rotating stage.
Whether the sculpture would have stood
the test of time is debatable. The colourful discs were Perspex and were
subject to becoming brittle with age; they were also notorious for collecting
dust. The maintenance would become a problem over time. It’s ironic these days
that the sculpture may have been removed to stop the centre from becoming
dated, and it never seems to be a part of the Mall that people bring up when
reminiscing about their past visits there. It is a shame that some of the
coloured discs weren’t saved for old times' sake, but progress is progress to
some.
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| Off the original plan 1972 |
We also must remember it has been gone
for nearly forty years. I look at old pictures from the centre from the 1970s
and don’t so much wonder if it would still be an iconic part of the mall, I
want to know if it made chimming or rusting sounds if a breeze or object hit
it?
