Plans progress for McCaw statue

A working model/concept design of the Richie McCaw statue planned for Kurow. Photo by Shannon Gillies.
A working model/concept design of the Richie McCaw statue planned for Kurow. Photo by Shannon Gillies.
The committee raising money to build a Richie McCaw statue in Kurow hopes the project will gather pace in the coming months.

Kurow Museum Committee chairman John Sturgeon has also told the Otago Daily Times two confidential sites are being considered for the statue.

The project, revealed late last month, aims to honour All Black great McCaw with a statue in his home town.

Mr Sturgeon said donations for the project were trickling in, and the kitty now sat at just over $5000. He was satisfied with that amount as the fundraising drive had just started.

The cost of the statue is expected to be between $46,000 and $96,000, the variation due to the uncertainty over what materials will be used.

Oamaru artist Don Paterson will create the work. It has not yet been decided what the statue will be created from, but the options are bronze, or a copper and polymer mix.

The Kurow Museum Committee has just approached New Zealand Rugby for assistance and is waiting for an indication of support from the national organisation.

A site for the statue had not been confirmed, but two options were being discussed, Mr Sturgeon said.

''Both have good attributes, but one's possibly better than the other.

''The final site will also have the approval of the McCaw family.''

He said reaction within the Kurow township to the statue was overwhelmingly positive.

McCaw grew up on a farm in the Hakataramea Valley, and went to school in Kurow and played junior rugby for the Kurow club.

• Anyone interested in donating to the McCaw statue fund can email: kurowmuseum@gmail.com

Comments

That doesn't look anything like Richie McCaw. If they're going to spend $96000 on a statue at least it should look like him. That looks more a young Lionel Blair.

From an Australian perspective, it would look a lot more like Richie if you turned it sideways so he was playing the ball on the deck!

There is really only one word for this model and that is 'inept' and when it came to Richie McCaw and rugby that is one thing he was not. Please Kurow get a sculptor who has a decent understanding of anatomy and can sculpt portraits. This model fails in so many ways.