Amy Sherwin is finally getting the hometown recognition she deserves.
A marble statue of the extraordinary nineteenth-century Tasmanian soprano will grace the arts precinct of Hobart, close to the Theatre Royal.
Sculptor Peter Schipperheyn has been commissioned to craft the $200,000 sculpture.
The AMY SHERWIN FUND voluntary committee. Its aims are:
1. the placing and maintenance of a statue of Amy Sherwin in Tasmania; and 2. research and the provision of information and education about Amy Sherwin.
Any support you can give will be gladly received.
See the latest events here.
In 1878 Amy Sherwin drew crowds to Hobart’s Theatre Royal.
Patrons:
Emeritus Professor Kate Warner AC
Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania.
Geraldine Brooks
Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Martha’s Vineyard. USA.
Committee:
President: Former senator Bob Brown
Secretary: Historian Don Garden.
Treasurer: Huon Valley farmer Paul Thomas
Actor: Jane Longhurst
Cellist: Kate Calwell
Media and Community leader: Joce Nettlefold
Curator of Hadley’s Art Prize: Dr Amy Jackett
Photo: Karen Brown Photography
Below is a video of a miniature model or Maquette, created in clay, of Amy Sherwin. The finished statue will be carved out of marble and be scaled slightly larger than life. If you view the video a couple of times you’ll appreciate the subtle details and quality of Peter’s work – incredible.
AMY SHERWIN
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST GLOBAL DIVA.
Born in a bush cottage beside the Huon River in 1855, Amy Sherwin was encouraged by her parents, farmers John and Elizabeth, to sing and play the piano.
In 1878 members of the touring Italian Opera Company were picnicking by the river when they heard her singing in her father’s orchard. The company hurriedly signed her up and, within three weeks, Amy was heading the bill at the Theatre Royal.
The Hobart Mercury’s critic was struck: ‘Miss Sherwin is superior to anyone who has yet appeared on this side of the line (equator)’. The theatre had erupted when ‘the lady terminated with much power upon the high C, gaining another vociferous encore’.
This brilliant start was followed by Amy’s debut at the Melbourne Opera House where, again, the crowd erupted: ‘there never was a more hearty scene in any theatre’.
Amy Sherwin was dubbed ‘the Tasmanian nightingale’ and the world became her stage. In 1880, a tour across America started at San Francisco’s Grand Opera House and ended with the Boston Transcript reporting that ‘Miss Sherwin sang with an exquisite tenderness, delicacy and depth of feeling.’
At Virginia’s Petersburg Festival, with flute accompaniment, Sherwin sang “Lo, the Gentle Lark!” and ‘when the last note had been uttered there was a remarkable scene. The audience fair rose at the singer, handkerchiefs were waved, people shouted themselves hoarse and gloves were burst in frantic applause’.
London’s turn was next. Sherwin’s appearance at Covent Garden ‘was a scene never to be forgotten – 3000 people threw up their hats and handkerchiefs and gave her a tremendous ovation’. And after an invitation-only concert, the ‘London Salon’ effused that ‘the gem of the evening was the faultless singing of a former Boston, as she is now a London, favourite … every word came out as clear and distinct as a bell … her manners are engaging, her amiability is boundless … the songs of Miss Sherwin were the crowning glory’.
Back in Melbourne ‘Amy Sherwin comes back to us at the very zenith of her fame – young, beautiful and enthusiastic’.
She delighted the Tsar of Russia and audiences in South Africa, India, China and Japan. In her triumphant return to Hobart in 1897, Sherwin’s biographer describes ‘a crowd of delighted fans unharnessed the horses from her carriage and pulled her in triumph through the streets’.
Nevertheless in 1935, ‘our Amy’ died in obscurity in a London nursing home for paupers.
Every young Tasmanian may be inspired by the girl who, a few weeks out of the bush, made that tumultuous appearance at the Melbourne Opera House in 1878. During her performance of the ‘mad scene’ in the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, ‘the excitement of the crowd was roused to the highest pitch with the young prima donna summoned before the curtain amidst a storm of applause in which the cry went up “Bravo Tasmania!”.’
Now it’s “Come on Tasmania!”
The Amy Sherwin Fund appeals to Tasmanians and music-lovers everywhere to donate towards the cost of her marble statue.
SCULPTOR PETER SCHIPPERHEYN
“Schipperheyn has long been regarded as Australia’s pre-eminent sculptor in marble”,
Australian Financial Review.
Envision how his statue of Amy Sherwin will add light and delight to Hobart’s cultural precinct.
It will be floodlit at night.
Be ready for a gala public unveiling when Schipperheyn’s work is completed by 20 September 2025, the 90th anniversary of Amy’s death.
Listen to the audio story
Amy Sherwin stayed at Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart and is celebrated through an audio story available on their web site.
When she performed at Hadley’s in 1887 a nightingale bird was painted on the mirror in the ballrooom and there is a suite named after ‘The Tasmanian Nightingale’.
Tabitha Badger speaking to the Tasmanian Parliament. August 6th 2024.
To Become a Member
Membership of the Amy Sherwin Fund is $100. Please provide the information below:
Members will be notified of events and other news via newsletters, invitations etc.
Please pay by bank transfer to:
Amy Sherwin Fund. BSB 633000 Account number: 212758734
Please include in your payment reference: (Last name) MEM.
For example: ‘SMITH MEM’
To Donate
Please donate by bank transfer to:
Amy Sherwin Fund. BSB 633000 Account number: 212758734
Donations are tax deductible. Amy Sherwin Fund (ABN 15776178942) is endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR), and is registered with the Australian Charities and Non-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
So we can send a receipt and thank you for your donation, please provide the information below:
We would like thank you in advance.
Mark Saturday, 2oth September, 2025 in your diary: that’s our proposed date to have the Amy Sherwin statue unveiled in Hobart.
STATUE FUNDRAISING LAUNCH
On 28 May 2024, the Amy Sherwin Fund announced the creation of a fundraising campaign to immortalise the single most important Tasmanian artist of the Victorian era with the creation of a statue in marble, and its proposed installation in or near Hobart’s Theatre Royal where Sherwin’s career took off.
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Contact
We can be contacted at amysherwinfund@outlook.com or PO Box 83, Cygnet TAS 7112
Donations
We estimate the total cost of placing Amy Sherwin’s statue, including pedestal, story boards and night lighting at $250,000
Our Bank Details
Amy Sherwin Fund
BSB 633000 Acct 212758734
For donations please include your surname as reference.
Amy Sherwin Fund ABN 15776178942