Private donor helps shire pay for famed eagle sculpture

The Shire of Williams purchased artist Jordan Sprigg’s wedge-tailed eagle sculpture, temporarily located outside the Williams Woolshed on Albany Highway, for $45,000.

Thanks to the donation of an unnamed Williams resident, the Shire will only be required to pay for one-third of the sculpture, with the donor covering the rest.

“We have a private donor, a Williams resident, who has come forward with an interest in contributing to its purchase, which was considered by council and then resulted in the decision to buy the sculpture,” Shire chief executive Geoff McKeown said.

“They said they were willing to contribute two-thirds of that cost, which made it a fairly easy decision by council, knowing the donor was contributing so much and that it would be a much lower cost to the ratepayers.”

The sculpture has been a hot topic in the town with multiple surveys put to the community on whether or not it should stay.

Mr McKeown said the Shire received a very positive response from the community when asked if they liked the sculpture, but then became more mixed when the $45,000 price tag was revealed.

“We put out a community survey to see if people liked the sculpture and we got a very positive response from that,” he said.

“Then we put out a second survey to let the community know about what it would cost for it to remain in Williams, and indicated the price of $45,000. The responses were more 50-50, some thought it was too expensive to buy, and others thought that we should try and secure it.”

The donor will indicate their preferred location within Williams for the sculpture.

Their identity will be revealed in the coming weeks.