Project Background

Title: Percy Button Sculpture

Location: Hay Street Mall - Perth WA

Client: City of Perth

Competition: Winner Public Art Competition

Date Completed: 2006

Project Materials: Bronze

Project size: Over-Life-Size

Dedication: Unveiled 12th October 2006 by The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor
Dr. Peter Nattress

Project Description:

A bronze statue of well loved street entertainer, Percy Button.  Dressed in his trademark long tail coat and with hat by his side, a smiling Percy attracts wanted attention from passerbys, due impart to the unusual pose, a handstand.

Plaque Inscription

Percy Button
" Percy button was a local street
entertainer and one of Perth's best
known faces from the 1920's to the
1950's. Performing somersaults and
handstands, Percy entertained people
for a few shillings while they waited to
see films, newsreels and theatrical
performances at the theatres that were
concentrated in what is now the Hay
Street Mall, the Theatre Royal, the
Ambassador and His Majesty's Theatre.
Percy was reknowned for his
grubbiness and in November 1929 local
newspaper, The Mirror, dressed Percy
up in a long-tailed suit and ran a front
page competition asking readers to
guess the identity of the cleaned up
man. The Mirror offered a guinea's
worth of goods for the first opened
letter giving the man's name.
The newspaper later asked Percy to write the
1929 Centenary Christmas Message.

This artwork celebrates the spirit of the street.

Launched by
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor
Dr. Peter Nattress
12 October 2006

Artists
Charles Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith. "