Boonji Spaceman sculpture unveiling angers fans of 'the kebab' in Perth

A gleaming blue, 7-metre-tall astronaut has been unveiled in Perth's CBD, taking pride of place outside Council House.
Designed by US artist Brendan Murphy, the sculpture called Boonji Spaceman was a donation by the artist but City of Perth took on costs of transportation and installation, believed to be between $150,000–$250,000.
The acquisition was championed by former Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas who stepped down from the council in March after being elected to state parliament.
Mr Zempilas has long championed branding Perth as the City of Light — as it was dubbed by astronaut John Glenn in 1962 when the people of Perth turned on their lights to acknowledge his mission to become the first American to orbit the earth.
It was that story and meeting Mr Zempilas that persuaded Murphy to donate one of his spacemen to Perth after the pair were introduced by gallery owner Paul Gullotti.
"I'm not in the business of giving my work away. I'm one of the top-selling artists in the world," Murphy told Mark Gibson on ABC Radio Perth.
"[Mr Zempilas and I] had a couple of great chats and Zoom calls, and Basil was really inspired by my work.
"When that happens that means a lot to me, and this history of John Glenn identifying Perth as the city of lights, that really connected the dots for me."
When the council voted to accept the donation last year Mr Zempilas said it was "an incredible opportunity" to bring a real tourist attraction that fit Perth's story to the city.
But not everyone was pleased with the idea, particularly as the site allocated was previously occupied by another popular piece of public art — the Ore Obelisk, affectionately dubbed "the kebab".
The 15-metre-tall sculpture was designed by City of Perth town planner Paul Ritter and erected to celebrate Western Australia's population reaching 1 million in 1971.
Featuring different geological specimens of rock, it symbolised the expansion of mining in the state in the 1960s and 1970s.
The sculpture was dismantled and placed in storage in 2021 following "engineering reports that it was unsafe and posed a risk to public safety", a spokesperson for the council said.
Helen Curtis, who runs a public art consultancy, launched the "Save the Kebab" campaign to restore and bring back the Ore Obelisk.
She was annoyed to find the council had allocated funds to the Boonji Spaceman.
Now that the spaceman is in place she is continuing her campaign to reinstate the the kebab.
"There is a huge groundswell of people from the arts, design, the history professions.
"But also the broader Perth community and even people who worked in parks and gardens at the City of Perth are showing support for the campaign."
Ms Curtis said the Boonji Spaceman was not unique to Perth, as Murphy had already installed versions of the sculpture in London, Oslo, Dubai and Antigua.
The Perth version of the Boonji Spaceman is called Lightning.
"This is not about parochialism at all," Ms Curtis said.
"If the City of Perth is into Instagrammable tourism attractions then we can do that here ourselves.
"Let's look after what we have first, right? That should be our priority. The Ore Obelisk — why didn't the City of Perth look after that?
She said if the city wanted tourist attractions it should commission local artists to create original work.
Murphy said he was surprised to learn that his spaceman had caused controversy.
"I had no idea any of this existed until recently," he said.
The artist rejected claims his work was not connected with the story of Perth and was simply a copy of work he had created elsewhere.
"First of all I'm not an American artist. I'm an artist, and my role … is to bring people together and to try and create works that inspire people," he said.
"Having put [the Boonji Spaceman] in other cities around the world I know the effect it has.
"I've seen it bring people together and … in most cases, I think people will be proud because it's a very forward-looking, forward-moving sculpture. It's very contemporary."
Murphy said the words written on the sculpture had been personalised for Perth, based on conversations with locals and research on the city's history.
The words "ambition" and "City of Light" appear on the spaceman's chest.
"I'm hopeful and pretty confident that everyone will come together once they experience the sculpture and I think they'll be proud of it," Murphy said.
City of Perth said the Boonji Spaceman would remain in its Stirling Gardens location for a year before being moved to another, as yet unnamed, location in the city.
It did not say how much it would cost to restore the Ore Obelisk but said it required significant work, including replacing all the conglomerate rock elements.

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Perry continues to innovate with new venues, such as his family-run Margaret in Double Bay (winner of the 2024 Good Food Guide restaurant of the year award, and counted among the world's best steak restaurants) while championing social impact – he co-founded the National Indigenous Culinary Institute to empower First Nations chefs. Named as a World's 50 Best Icon in 2024, his legacy bridges fine dining with meaningful change. A Meriam woman from the Torres Strait, Bero's Melbourne restaurants and product line, Mabu Mabu, put native ingredients like karkalla and mug nuts into sandwiches and pantry jars around the country, while as the recurring NAIDOC week host of The Cook Up , she platforms First Nations food and chefs from a place of truth and authenticity. Cooking classes in schools extend her reach, turning bush-tucker literacy into everyday knowledge and reframing First Nations flavours as pantry staples . Palisa Anderson is a second-generation restaurateur and farmer, running Boon Luck Farm in Byron Bay and co-directing the Chat Thai restaurant group. She grows over 200 varieties of organic Southeast Asian produce, supplying directly to the group's kitchens. A vocal advocate for food sovereignty, migrant growers and small-scale farming, Anderson connects Thai-Australian identity with ecology, seed-saving and agricultural resilience, a message she has explored in SBS's Water Heart Food . One of Australia's sharpest restaurant critics and the current creative force behind the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, Nourse is the former editor and critic at Australian Gourmet Traveller . On top of being a trusted guide, he helps shape national discussion through The Age 's Good Food Guide and panels like the World's 50 Best Restaurants. The creative force at the Fink group of restaurants, including Sydney icons like Quay and Bennelong , Gilmore transforms Australian landscapes into tasting menus : think petal-thin textures, sea succulents and heirloom veg grown to his specs in the Blue Mountains. Celebrated for the 'Snow Egg' and ever-evolving 'White Coral', he mentors young chefs to nurture producer relationships, proving world-class luxury can still taste unmistakably Australian. Peter Kuruvita blends his Sri Lankan heritage with global storytelling. After founding Sydney's Flying Fish, he introduced Australians to the spice-rich, seafood-forward flavours of South Asia through acclaimed SBS shows like My Sri Lanka and Coastal Kitchen . His cooking is rooted in culture, and his books and restaurants trace the connections between migration, memory and mealtimes. At his restaurant Noosa Beach House, and through ambassadorial work with Sri Lankan brands like Dilmah tea, Kuruvita continues to honour ancestral knowledge while celebrating the diversity of island cuisine. MasterChef's 2009 runner-up is now back on set as co-host, coaxing nervous contestants with the same grin that won Australia over. Off-camera, Poh runs Jamface at Adelaide Central Market and still paints in oils at 2 am, her canvases exploring identity and belonging. Her food shows ( Poh's Kitchen , Snackmasters ) unravel the mysteries of pandan, belacan and chilli heat with approachability and warmth, earning her a Gold Logie nomination in 2025 . The former events executive founded OzHarvest in 2004 to implement a simple yet powerful change – curb food waste to combat hunger. Through lobbying, education, and public campaigns, Kahn helped set a national goal to halve food waste by 2030. Her work has inspired both industry and home cooks to see scraps as a resource – today, OzHarvest's yellow vans are a recognised symbol of positive change. Vegan chorizo, cheese, and cacio e pepe? It's all possible at Shannon Martinez's bold Melbourne kitchens, Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli . Without formal training – and without preaching – she's made plant-based food irresistible to even the most die-hard carnivores. A hatted chef, bestselling author and two-time cancer survivor, she's also a fierce advocate for gender equity in kitchens, launching the Women in Hospitality Pastry Scholarship in 2024. A proud first-generation migrant, Shaun Christie-David shows how hospitality can drive radical change. At his restaurant Colombo Social, refugees and others facing barriers to employment serve delicious, authentic Sri Lankan food. Through his Plate It Forward initiative, a 'Pay it forward' system means every meal sold funds meals for those in need, supported by a growing collection of restaurants – including Kyiv Social, and the newest kid on the block, Kolkata Social. With enthusiasm as big as his heart, Christie-David is redefining success in hospitality – measured in compassion, not just profit. Through her book The Cook's Companion , with its flavour-pairing guidance and practical tips, Stephanie Alexander gave Australians confidence in the kitchen . She extended that into schools via her Kitchen Garden Foundation, now active in over 1,000 primary schools and early‑learning centres. Its veggie patches and kitchen classrooms teach children to grow, cook and share fresh produce – even influencing curriculum, well-being and community engagement across the nation. She is continuing to firmly root food literacy in everyday Australian life through her work. A chance kitchen shift in 1982 set Kyoto-born Tetsuya Wakuda on a Sydney path that rewrote fine dining. In a tiny Rozelle cottage – later moving to his Kent-Street landmark location – he served cold-smoked Tasmanian ocean trout with kombu oil, micro-diced seaweed salad and truffle-buttered bread, proving Australian produce could carry Japanese precision . The OG fine dining chef in Australia, he has groomed alumni like Peter Gilmore, Martin Benn and the teams behind Sepia, Quay and Sixpenny, who have carried his ethos worldwide, while his Singapore outpost Waku Ghin, now crowned with two Michelin stars, continues the dialogue with coral-trout sashimi and Murray cod grilled over binchotan. That roquefort you're eating? You can thank Will Studd. Studd spent over two decades fighting to legalise raw-milk cheese in Australia – and won. His landmark court case not only reopened the door to traditional cheesemaking but changed how we think about dairy. Through his SBS shows Cheese: Searching for a Taste of Place and Cheese Slices , books, and retail advocacy, Studd helped elevate the conversation around cheese from supermarket snacking to serious questions of culture, terroir and microbial diversity. In the 1950s, Swiss-born Koeppen became Australia's first TV celebrity chef, beaming soufflé tips into suburban lounges on The Chef Presents. His continental techniques at a time of tinned-pea dinners, expanded Australian culinary horizons and set the template for today's screen-chef phenomenon. Watch now Share this with family and friends