William Ricketts Sanctuary

William Ricketts was an Australian artist and sculptor who lived on a piece of forested land in the Dandenong Ranges.  He developed a compassion for the forests and the animals living in the forest and to the aboriginal people of Australia.  William spent many years visiting and staying with aboriginal people (he was a white man), learning about their beliefs and earning their trust.  Aborigines do not like having their picture taken, painted or sculptured as they believe that it ties their bodies to the earth and does not allow their spirits to go into the next world.  William managed to persuade them that it was through showcasing their connectedness with nature that Europeans might start to take care of the biodiversity and ecosystems that the aborigines treasure and depend on.  So he sculptured them in clay and mounted them on rocks in the forest around his home.  His property became a gallery and the beautiful sculptures blended in well to their environment and became covered in algae and moss. 

The old entrance to the sanctuary creates a wonderfully austere welcome. 

The clay sculptures were created with the texture of wood and  it is difficult to discern where the wood and stone ends and the sculpture starts.

Children feature strongly in the sculptures.

The scale of the sculptures are often to actual size making them even more realistic.

The natural colouring blends the sculptures in to their surroundings to the point that we often didn't see them at first glance.

Before he died, William Ricketts donated his land to the State and it is now a sanctuary - a peaceful piece of forest where 92 of his sculptures nestle onto rocks or stand in quiet glens.  Many of them are designed to have small fountains coming out of them and most have been sculptured to look like they've been carved out of wood.  He often sculptured himself along with aborigines and many of the sculptures include forest animals or birds.  All of them embrace Aboriginal spirituality and a respect for the natural world.

William Ricketts with two lyrebirds - a symbol of harmony with the forest