What does public art and prisons have in common?

Nothing I would suspect. Ah, but you would be mistaken. What better way for someone who has time on their hands than to chisel away on a piece of public art. In 1860, 23 year old William Stanford found himself charged with robbery and given a 22 year jail sentence. Thug, horse thief and all around bad guy became a nightmare prisoner in Melbourne’s notorious Pentridge Prison. Considered a hopeless case he spent much of his time alone carving figures in old soup bones. The chaplain of the prison, who was unable to make any headway with the angry Stanford, noticed that he had a particular talent in drawing. Later when he discovered a carved bone, the Chaplain showed it to the governor and persuaded him to allow Stanford to have art lessons. I would have thought the governor would have been more concerned about what was Stanford using to carve the bones (but I digress). Stanford excelled in his new form of expression and it wasn’t long before he was being mentored by Charles Summers (of Burke and Wills Memorial fame). William eventually submitted a design for a fountain (which he won) and was left chipping away for four years at stone hauled from the prison quarry. Click here for more info on the Standford Fountain. Ew and something quite creepy, the boy on top of the fountain was modeled from the governor’s son.