Strathalbyn Sculpture: The Kenny Blake Memorial

avatar

Perfect Weather For a Drive

The sun was out and not a cloud in the sky and also the offer of a picnic, how could I refuse. The destination was a small town to the south of Adelaide called Strathalbyn, and spending some time exploring the local area including the iconic status and also taking the time to practice my photography

Ken Blake

Much loved local Bike Racer

The history of Ken blake was not too familiar to me but seeing this statue made me curious to find out more about him, and what he did, apparently he was a champion racer and won many races

Tragic Ending

Motorcycle racing can be a dangerous sport as we can see from the outcome that happened to Ken blake.
On June 9, 1981, Ken was riding at the Isle of Man, and in his usual style he was flying rounding up 103 riders in five laps of a six-lap race. He had started late due to a fuel leak. Ken pitted and shot out in eighth place, chasing down the leaders. 5 km down the road at Ballagarey Curve, he hit a wet patch and slid into a concrete post and died instantly.

His cremation on the Isle of Man and the ashes flown back to Australia for service in Melbourne on June 24, 1981. It was an occasion of a massive outpouring of grief.

The sculpture made from Bike Parts

It is made out of mechanical parts of all shapes and sizes welded together; he originally planned to make it all out of motorcycle parts and motorcycle-related tools, but other parts were included, such as aircraft pieces.


Ken Blake Helmet


You can see the parts that went into making this statue, from the drill bits to the small spanners and even an old spark plug. Simply beautiful work.

Ken Blake Helmet Parts


South Australian

A Cooper's beer bottle cap on his helmet

renowned Goolwa artist

At a festival, the sculpture created by renowned Goolwa artist James Stewart the Governor of SA His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le conducted the unveiling ceremony

Find Your Small Gems

I encourage you to spend some time to visit these small towns in your local area you might be surprised to discover these gems of interest.


Quotes take from https://kennyblake.com.au/
All Photos Taken By Me.
Consider leaving a comment; constructive reviews will encourage others to read more and become better writers



0
0
0.000
23 comments
avatar

According to the Bible, How do you influence faith to Christian believers? (Part 3 of 3)

(Sorry for sending this comment. We are not looking for our self profit, our intentions is to preach the words of God in any means possible.)



Comment what you understand of our Youtube Video to receive our full votes. We have 30,000 #SteemPower. It's our little way to Thank you, our beloved friend.
Check our Discord Chat
Join our Official Community: https://beta.steemit.com/trending/hive-182074

0
0
0.000
avatar

I remember speaking with you about this. I did a post on it about a year ago myself...Your pictures are better than mine were though. How cool is thing thing in person! It's amazing artwork huh? I love how the longer you look at it the more detail it reveals.

Good post bro...Curangeled this one.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I do remember discussing this as a topic for a post and thank you for the kind words about the photos. You totally need to see this artwork in person to fully enjoy its beauty, but I hope my pictures do it justice.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Steemfest 5 in Strathalbyn ya reckon? We call all get around and marvel at this artwork Lol. Good bakery there in Strath too! Lol.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Sounds like a plan, I have some more photos of strathalbyn. Ill save them for another post.

0
0
0.000
avatar

A good plan; Two or three stage blog-planning is the way to go. A single topic spread over two or three blogs. Just have some fun with it, write good posts and above all else engage with some users, on their blogs. That will get you on the radar and then when they visit your blog they'll find your good work and be more inclined to support you.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @ctrpch! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got more than 200 replies. Your next target is to reach 300 replies.

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
0
0
0.000
avatar

How do you capture that sense of movement, using such inert pieces of metal?
I've always admired sculptors. There are some cool pieces around. I think I remember a larger-than-life Predator in the Enigma bar on Hindley.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That's what creative people can do, its a 1:1 scale of his Triumph bike apparently.

0
0
0.000
avatar

An amazing piece, such a sad story behind it, though. I wonder if it would have ever been made without the tragedy. Had life he lived to be an old man, would he have been able to see this hail to him, or would it not be there?

0
0
0.000
avatar

It is a dangerous sport, more so with the street races like the Isle of Man TT, where he crashed.

Proper race tracks are safer, but still dangerous.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Wow, that’s an amazing piece of artwork. I love that it represents a piece of history and honours someone’s life.

0
0
0.000
avatar

It is mate, well worth a trip to see it in person, there is a lot of history you can explore.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I’ll keep that in mind. :)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Like thd amount of effort that went into this is totally bat shit crazy

0
0
0.000
avatar

I believe it took him three months to make, the sculptor was as bike rider himself and had a similar triumph bike to use as a model.

But yeah it’s an outstanding effort.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Three months of dedication 🤔😭 thats back breaking dude. Thanks alot

0
0
0.000