Community members are embracing the Bellarine Peninsula’s newly opened state-of-the-art Boronggook Drysdale Library, including a playable sculpture of an abstract female form installed near the entrance.
The City commissioned artist Sanné Mestrom to create The Secret, a curved public artwork of a woman reclining in the grass that becomes both a place of refuge and interaction for the community.
The black concrete sculpture with brass inlay was designed to capture the imaginations of community members of all ages and invite children to play and discover.
Boronggook (pronounced Bo-rong-gook) is the traditional Wadawurrung name for the area, which was a place of gathering and connection, and means ‘turf’. The sculpture’s name, The Secret, reflects on how both the historical and contemporary use of the site as a library holds untold stories to share and secrets to imagine.
Boronggook Drysdale Library, which is jointly funded by Council ($8.156 million) and the Victorian Government ($1 million), officially opened to the community on Friday 5 May 2023.
The innovative green roof is the first of its kind in our region, featuring 4,300 plants that are already providing habitat for birds, bees and butterflies.
