It's funny how Canberra's historical timeline contains so many twists and turns.
Back in 2013, when Canberra was marking its centenary, we all stared unbelievingly at a huge hot air balloon with 10 pendulous breasts, a piece of art unveiled as a special gift to the city.
As predictable jokes - boobs, milk from the teats, hot air etc - were marched out across the country and recriminations flew close to the ground in Canberra, it was the former chief minister Jon Stanhope who said what many of us felt only in private.
Thousands of kilometres away on a remote island, where he was carrying out his quiet post-political life as administrator of Christmas Island, Mr Stanhope lamented the fact that he had not, when in power, commissioned instead a bronze sculpture of Walter and Marion Griffin, and stuck it on City Hill.
He had a point then and, despite our eventual embrace of the loveable Skywhale, the point still stands.
On the 10-year anniversary of Skywhale's unveiling, I pointed out that this very solid plan had yet to come to pass.
But then, a couple of years ago - movement at the station! None other than the National Capital Authority finally rose to the occasion - the impending 150th anniversary of Walter Griffin's birth - and commissioned the work.
Announced in September 2025, the "two high-quality full body, 'life size', cast bronze figurative sculptures, placed within a purposely designed landscaped setting" were to be placed on the north side of Lake Burley Griffin, at the eastern edge of Commonwealth Park.
They were to take 12 months to complete, and cost $605,000.
But earlier this year, the authority quietly shelved the project, paying out a reported $33,000 to Oculus Landscape Architecture + Urban Design as compensation for the preliminary design works they'd already done.
The reason is equally confounding. It turns out the ACT government had Griffin-related plans of its own - a large but lone sculpture of Marion Mahony Griffin.
The work, by sculptor April Pine, will be a 4.5-metre weathered steel figure depicting Marion holding her rolled-up drawings under one arm, and drawing something in the air with the other.
It's called The City She Drew and was commissioned by the Public Art Working Group as part of the light rail stage 2 project. The work, part of a suite of art costing more than $1.6 million, will be placed on the median on Commonwealth Avenue, north of London Circuit.
In other words, still in the triangle, but well beyond the sightlines of the other version of her, alongside her partner in life and work, that could have been.
An ACT government spokesman confirmed that the NCA "was aware of the Marion Mahony Griffin artwork throughout its development, endorsement and approval process.
"While initially there was a view that the projects had different objectives and could co-exist, this was revisited by the NCA board as the detail, including the timing, of the respective projects became clearer," he said.
A similar statement came from the NCA, which also pointed out there are plenty of other places to learn about the work of the famous pair, "including the extensive collections at the National Capital Exhibition and National Library of Australia."
The bronze works would have gone some way to addressing the underrepresentation of women in Canberra's commemorative landscapes.
And, says the NCA, "addressing this is an ongoing focus. We seek to ensure the stories told in the National Capital better reflect the breadth of Australian achievement and contribution, including the significant role women and Indigenous Australians have played in shaping our nation."
OK, fine. But let's just pause here and question the wisdom of a separate sculpture of Marion, all by herself.
I never thought I'd be the one saying this, having long been part of the chorus calling for more women to be represented in art form throughout Canberra. And the Marion sculpture is being created by the same artist who made Windswept, the imposing 4.8-metre sculpture of Andrew Inglis Clark on the intersection of Constitution Avenue and London Circuit, in 2020. Back then, I was the one bemoaning the fact that the latest public artwork was, once again, of a man.
But in this case, why Marion, all by herself?
It's well accepted by now that Marion Mahony was overlooked for a century, with Walter taking all the credit for the winning capital design that arrived by ship just in the nick of time. The plans came rolled up with her luminous watercolour renderings, and it's likely the former would have been overlooked without the latter. Walter, however, was the man with the reputation, and Marion was just his wife. Different times, etc.
But since Canberra's centenary, much has been done to restore her reputation and correct the wrongs. The wonky name of Canberra's signature water feature has been noted, repeatedly, and is unlikely to change. But Griffin is today most often referred to in the plural - the Griffins' plan, the Griffins' legacy. A major exhibition the centenary year examined their life as a creative couple, there are now several published biographies, and the lookout on Mount Ainslie was renamed in Marion's honour, where you can now compare today's view with the imagined city she so beautifully captured on silk. Even Canberra's official writers' centre has been renamed Marion, partly in homage to Mahony Griffin.
In this context, a sculpture of her alone seems an over-correction at best.
And meanwhile, there's no sculpture yet of Walter, the namers of the lake mucked up his name anyway, and the Griffin legacy is still crying out to be recognised in physical form.
"The NCA will continue discussions with the Walter Burley Griffin Society about honouring and celebrating the legacy of the Griffins, including consideration of future opportunities for a commemoration of the two," the authority spokesperson said.
"We are currently working with the Society on the 150th anniversary of Walter Burley Griffin's birth with a planting in his honour later this year which will see 50 trees planted at Rond Terrace in the National Triangle."
Again with the NCA and foliage! Trees and flowerbeds can't always make up for a lack of infrastructure in a built environment - don't get me started on the giant square of red gravel and scrappy raised flowerbeds in Parkes Place, masking what was until recently a series of large and defunct fountains that have been deemed too expensive to repair.
Why can't we spend some money on some new fountains and, while we're at it, just do what Stanhope wanted to do all those years ago and cast the Griffins in bronze, now, forever and together?
