Sundial

Owen Broughton studied at Sydney’s National Art School after serving in the Second World War. He then moved to England where he worked as an assistant to famous Modernist sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Broughton then went to study sculpture in Italy and France before returning to Australia where he taught sculpture at the National Art School and later at UniSA’s South Australian School of Art. 

This sculpture is in the form of an Armillary Sphere sundial, a solar time-telling device. The meridian in one ring points due north while supporting a style that follows the Earth’s axis and casts its shadow across the numerals on the other ring, which is in line with the equator. 

Following refurbishments, the artwork and plaques were reinstated on the north-east side of the Plaza of Adelaide Festival Centre. The plaque has instructions for telling the time through reading the shadow on the sundial.  

This sundial artwork was commissioned in memory of the late Ms. Gladys Ruth Gibson, C.B.E. (b.1901-d.1972), a generous citizen, educator and active leader in the advancement of women’s rights. Known fondly as, Ruth Gibson, she was the second woman from South Australia to serve as President of the Australian National Council of Women from 1953-56. Gibson was instrumental in pursuing federal legislation to bring about equal marriage and divorce laws rights for women. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for representing Australian women at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and then promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.) for the 1970 Queen’s Birthday Honours for 'services in advancing the interests of Australian women.'