An 82-year-old statuette connected to the Uiver aviation story has been returned to Albury Council after going missing for nearly half its life.
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The plaster cast replica of a sculpture by Paul Montford represents Australia and Holland through its figure holding a rope protecting a crowned rampant lion.
Removed for repair in 1979 but not returned, the statuette has now come back via an anonymous donor.
Councillor Henk van de Ven said the council would now investigate the feasibility and cost of fixing the sculpture.
The more obvious damage includes the figure’s broken hand and a break in the lion’s tail.
Cr van de Ven said another possibility would be creating two bronze replicas, one for the Uiver collection and the other to present to the City of Amsterdam.
This would honour the cities’ link forged by the emergency over Albury in October 1934, where residents helped the Uiver land safely.
Cr van de Ven said the statuette was an interesting piece of memorabilia.
“It’s wonderful in its detail, what it’s trying to depict so I think it’s a fantastic result for Albury City and the Uiver collection,” he said.
