Mystery surrounds burning of town’s Indigenous ‘giant’ sculpture as dramatic images of the tourist attraction’s destruction emerge
- One of the wooden giants at Mandurah, south Perth, was burnt to the ground
- Giants of Mandurah were opened in November and depict Indigenous creation
- Emergency services were called to extinguish the fire at about 11.30pm on Friday
- Photos of the giant, Vivi Cirkelstone, first emerged online on Saturday morning
One of Australia’s biggest Indigenous tourism projects has been partially burnt to the ground.
Photos showing the charred remains of one of the Giants of Mandurah, south Perth, emerged online on Saturday morning.
The six giants, opened in mid November, are stationed around Mandurah and tell the Bindjareb people’s story of its creation.
Four appear in the bush around Mandurah while one is in the inner-Perth suburb of Subiaco.
One of the Giants of Mandurah was found burnt to the ground on Saturday morning following a fire on Friday night (pictured, the remains of giant Vivi Cirkelstone)
The six giants, including Vivi (above), are designed to help people with local nature and culture by depicting the area’s Indigenous creation story
The six wooden giants around Mandurah (two above) took ‘thousands of hours’ to make from recycled materials
Visitors collect clues as they find the wooden giants until they’re eventually led to the secret ‘final giant’ further from the city.
However, one of the giants was discovered burnt to a crisp just days after the project’s one-month anniversary.
All the giants are handcrafted by Danish artist Thomas Dambo over ‘thousands of hours’ from recycled wood.
He’d hoped the project would help encourage people to connect with local nature and culture.
The giant destroyed was Vivi Cirkelstone. He stood at about two metres high and was five metres long.
The burnt giant was named Vivi Cirkelstone and he was considered to be the most accessible giant in the project (pictured, Vivi before and after the fire)
The six giants (one above) were only opened in November with several locals left outraged by the sudden fire
Vivi is depicted on all fours searching through a pile of nearby stones.
He was considered the giant most accessible for people of all ages and mobility.
Photos show Vivi was reduced by the flames to a pile of blackened wood.
‘This is why Mandurah can’t have nice things… one of the Giants burnt down,’ one devastated fan wrote alongside a picture on Facebook.
Emergency services extinguished the fire that took Vivi at about 11.30pm on Friday.
Police are still investigating the circumstances around the incident.
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