City of Greater Geraldton: Repair bill for Horizon sculpture worth it despite visible cracks

The City of Greater Geraldton has defended its decision to spend thousands of dollars repairing a public art piece, despite admitting the works have made the damage “more apparent.”

The Horizon sculpture on the Beresford foreshore, a two-tonne hollow acrylic sphere holding 1800 litres of water has had cracks repaired on-site by a specialist at a cost of $8000 to the council.

City of Greater Geraldton maintenance operations manager Kerry Smith said the cracks to the sculpture had been fixed but were never going to be able to be removed.

“The repair was like a windscreen repair where they put gel in the crack to stop it from spreading,” he said.

“If you ran your hands over the patch where the crack was it’s smooth, so now there’s no risk of the damage expanding.

“Due to the nature of it, it’s not as if a section could be taken out and replaced.”

The City contracted a Perth company, endorsed by the manufacturer of the piece, to carry out the specialist work with Mr Smith saying there was no suitable local contractor for the job.

The cost of the repairs included accommodation and other expenses associated with bringing in a non-local firm to do the job.

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Mr Smith said the City believed the $8000 price tag was worth the result.

“We knew that was how it would be, I realise because it has been buffed and polished and brought back to its original clarity some of the cracks may actually be more apparent,” he said.

“But standing back, how the sculpture is intended to be viewed, its original clarity with the view of the horizon has returned.

“Horizon has such a great value to the community and visitors...we really appreciate the support for the sculpture from the community.”

We knew that was how it would be, I realise because it has been buffed and polished and brought back to its original clarity some of the cracks may actually be more apparent.

The work by artist Lucy Humphrey was bought by the City for $80,000, with funding from Mid West Ports Authority, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the Mid West Ports Authority for the $21.1 million Beresford Foreshore project, and was installed in 2019.

It has been recognised with multiple awards and has since become one of Geraldton’s most photographed public art pieces.