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Hunt is on for statue of Hans Christian Andersen

Once upon a time, a long time ago, a statue of Danish children’s author Hans Christian Andersen disappeared.

Now the hunt is on to find the missing bronze in time for the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birth on April 2 next year.

Royal Danish Consul General in Sydney Jorgen Mollegard Kristensen offered a holiday to Denmark for the person who finds the statue, which disappeared from a Sydney park in 1965.

He said the bronze bust, which was reported to be about two metres (six feet) high and was created by Danish sculptor Wendy Sonning, had been presented to the children of Sydney and placed in Phillip Park in downtown Sydney in 1955 to mark the 150th anniversary of Andersen’s birthday.

Kristensen said 10 years later members of the city’s Danish community were given permission to move the bust to a higher profile position at Wynyard Park, close to a busy railway station.

“But when we went to relocate the bust it was already gone,” he said. Sigurd Sjoquist, 89, one of the Sydney-based businessmen who paid for the statue, said council workers renovating the park where it stood might have misplaced it.

“I believe it was mislaid during the renovations, it was put away in council storage and it could be anywhere.” The person who helps authorities track down the bust will be rewarded with a six-day holiday in Denmark. ap

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