In March 2025, members of the TBSSS Board were devastated to learn one of Tom Bass’ earliest civic sculptures had been destroyed in a catastrophic fire in October 2023. In light of this tragic loss, and an investigative article by art critic John McDonald, TBSSS uncovers the history of The Herald Sculpture…
Early in his career as a public sculptor, Tom Bass was approached for a commission by John Fairfax & Sons, the publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald. Working from 1956 to 1959, Bass created The Herald Sculpture, a large-scale relief work in copper, using an electrolytic copper deposit technique that he had developed. As opposed to a typical molten metal cast, in this technique the mould is submerged in a copper sulphate solution, and with an electric current passed through, the copper ions deposit into the mould and a metal cast is left behind.
The sculpture was emblematic of his modernist style and strongly representative of his and the newspaper’s values. It depicts the herald ‘of old’, channelling the news through a modern printing press, distributed to the people. This strong visual narrative is enhanced with symbols on the herald’s tunic, representing the characteristics of a responsible, ethical, and informative newspaper.
It stood over the entrance to the SMH office on Broadway until 1995, anchoring the paper to ideals of integrity, tradition, and the paper’s history. As Bass writes in his autobiography Totem Maker, he took care to understand and distil this history of the newspaper, as “an important part of the fourth estate and the process of government… [with a] history so rich that it is practically synonymous with the early history of Australia.”
However, as the corporate workings of the newspaper at the end of the 20th century moved the office to the CBD, The Herald Sculpture was relocated away from public viewing to their publishing plant in Chullora. Later, after another move to Pyrmont in 2007, the work was reinstated—but later yet, when Fairfax was taken over by NINE in 2020 and the company prepared to move to a newly constructed building in North Sydney, the sculpture was disassembled and placed in storage.
The work remained in storage amid lobbying by TBSSS, and discussions between NINE Entertainment and the University of Technology, Sydney (where it was proposed the sculpture be reinstated to its original location). Discussions were sadly hindered by the COVID Pandemic and major staff changes at NINE until March 2025, when after seeking an update, TBSSS was eventually informed by NINE that The Herald Sculpture had been destroyed much earlier in a 2023 storage facility fire.
In April of this year, renowned art critic John McDonald published an article ‘Consigned to the Flames’, detailing his investigation into the fire and the loss of the sculpture. McDonald explores the loss of heritage surrounding the SMH’s takeover, and the neglect in evaluating and insuring visual art.
We are saddened to learn that such an important and prominent civic work of Tom’s is unrecoverable for future generations. We hope it can be honoured and remembered in our community, and that the values that The Herald Sculpture embodied are maintained through the paper’s future.
Article researched and written by Kamyar Murphy. This article sources information from John McDonald’s ‘Consigned to the Flames’ (2025), Tom Bass Archive ‘The Herald Sculpture’ (2014), Tom Bass’ autobiography Totem Maker (1996, co-authored by Harris Smart), and testimony from Tom Bass’ wife Dr Margo Hoekstra and TBSSS Board Member Anthony Mitchell.
