“We’re delighted that it’s all been arranged because we have a lot of people and a lot of tourists coming through the grounds and this means a lot more people will get to see it than would have done in Raleigh, which is important, because it’s a great addition to art and culture in Newfoundland.”
The arrangement to move the pole hasn’t been a simple one — it’s taken the combined forces of Newfoundland Power, Newfoundland Hydro and Bell Aliant.
Corporate communications manager for Newfoundland Power, Bob Pike, told the Pen his company was approached by the Lieutenant Governor to see how they could help get the totem pole to Government House.
“It wasn’t as simple as just ‘you move poles all the time — you should move this one,’ because Raleigh isn’t in our coverage area, so we got in contact with the other utilities providers,” he explained.
“We talked amongst ourselves and figured out how we could split the cost and how we could go about getting the pole out and moving down to St John’s to donate to the people of the province.”
There’s no exact date set for the move but Mr Pike said he expects it to be soon.
This isn’t the first time Mr Taylor has had work on display in government offices.
A few years back he carved a Newfoundland-themed chess set from whalebone for an exhibition of Newfoundland crafts. The provincial government ended up buying the set and moved it to some offices in Gander. >
Although the pole will be gone from the Northern Peninsula, Mr Taylor doesn’t seem too concerned.
“My grandfather carved that replica of Lord Nelson’s ship, the Victory, for Dr. Curtis from the hospital,” he said, pointing to the wall at a black and white photograph of a man standing by an intricately-detailed sailboat, “and now that’s on display at a museum in Manchester. I’m proud of that I guess, so this is kind of the same thing.”
As for Mr Crosbie, he says he is constantly impressed with this part of the province.
“It just goes to show the Northern Peninsula is quite exceptional,” he said.
“Every single time we go up there we see something interesting — whether it’s history, the scenery or artwork, and this is just one more example.
“It’s exceptional.”
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