Historical information

John McEwen repaired the Pompeii Fountain statue at Fortuna Villa in the early 1970s after it was damaged by gunfire in the 1960s. He was a ceramics teacher at Bendigo Institute of TAFE, later a farrier, and a volunteer teacher in outback NSW.In 2008,

John and his wife Helen revisited Fortuna Villa to see his restoration work.The "Statue Massacre" IncidentShooting IncidentIn the early 1960s, a National Serviceman allegedly used a .303 rifle to shoot several statues at Fortuna Villa, possibly while intoxicated.

There is some uncertainty about the exact timing and presence of National Servicemen on site, with conflicting accounts about when the incident could have occurred. Multiple statues were damaged or destroyed, but one original statue from the Lansell era survived.

A notable surviving statue was of a boy carrying a basket, which sometimes caused confusion due to its lifelike appearance.

John McEwen was contacted by two military men in the early 1970s to repair the damaged statue. The statue was made of compressed cement and was badly fragmented, with the front and left arm destroyed and the head separated but intact. John constructed a metal armature for the missing arm, used chicken wire for structure, and rebuilt the statue with cement mixed with Plastibond adhesive. Plastibond remains a commonly used material for such repairs.

Physical description

Fortuna - History Note "The Great Fortuna Statue Massacre" - Visit by John and Helen McEwen on Feb 25 2008

This item contains the following documents:

11217.78a Colour photo of Helen and John McEwen with the statue in the background

11217.78a Colour photo of the statue

11217.78a Two sided sheet labelled Fortuna Villa Historical Note 001 Fortuna "The Great Fortuna Statue Massacre"

Publication type

non-fiction