Sydney, Australia: Queen Victoria Statue

Now here's a great story about a statue. 

It's about the Queen Victoria Statue that stands guard by the Queen Victoria Building. Simple enough. But the Queen took the long way there.

The Queen visited Ireland in 1900, and the Irish were quite excited about the visit. That enthusiasm carried over to create a statue of her for placement in Dublin. It took eight years, but the work found a home there. 

However, by 1922 the statue was now in front of the Irish Parliament, and people didn't like the idea of having the Queen around the seat of government - at least symbolically. 

Eventually, it was taken out of that area, and replaced by  ... wait for it ... a car park. As for Victoria, she went to the grounds by a hospital and sat outside, deteriorating. There was talk of sending it to London, Ontario, but neither the Canadian or Irish government wanted to pay the transportation bill. In 1980, the statue ended up in a field by a vacant reformatory. 

That might have been the end of the story. But in 1985, a restoration project was taking place at the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. Was there something that could call attention to the area? Indeed. It was tracked down and shipped to Australia. In 1987, the statue was unveiled again. 

A happy ending.