Alice Anderson Statue

30/08/2026

Join the Alice Anderson Garage Girls today! Find them dressed as Alice's garage girls alongside an Austin 7 named 'Alice', with the Fiat Club outside the lolly shop. It's a celebration of everything achieved so far toward building a statue of Alice in Kew - and they'll have copies of A Spanner in the Works available for sale. Come say hi! Even better, dress as Alice or a garage girl yourself and join Team Alice on the red carpet for the Costumi Classico fashion parade at 12pm!

25/08/2026

Join us at Maling Road Auto Classico in Canterbury on Sunday 30 August, where we’ll be dressed as Alice’s garage girls alongside an Austin 7 called ‘Alice’ with the Fiat Club in Theatre Place from 10am–3pm! It’s going to be a day of celebration of all that’s been achieved towards building a statue of Alice in Kew! We’ll have copies of A Spanner in the Works available for sale. Come and say hi! Better still, dress as Alice or a garage girl (see photos for inspo) and join our Team Alice walk on the red carpet in the Costumi Classico fashion parade at 12pm!

20/08/2026

20/08/2026

The Anderson St Bridge (renamed the Morell Bridge) designed by Alice’s dad J.T. Anderson and Sir John Monash. The first bridge in Victoria made of reinforced concrete!

20/08/2026

Alice’s dad, engineer J.T. Anderson, worked with Sir John Monash to design Anderson Street Bridge, now known as Morell Bridge.

For generations, Melburnians have walked across this beautiful, much-loved bridge, connecting the Botanic Gardens with Melbourne’s sports precinct. It’s also a remarkable feat of engineering, being the first bridge in Victoria built using the Monier system of reinforced concrete.

Imagine the conversations Alice may have had with J.T. about cars, engines and engineering and the world of invention and technology that surrounded them! ✨

05/08/2026

🚗✨ 100 years ago today, Alice Anderson set out on a journey that would make history.

On 6 August 1926, Alice departed from Melbourne's Lyceum Club with family friend Jessie Webb, beginning an epic drive to Alice Springs. Alice embodied the independence and ambition of a new generation of Australian women.

Travelling in a customised Baby Austin (the smallest cars in the world) Alice became the first woman to drive to Alice Springs. Much of the route crossed Australia's remote interior on rough dirt tracks, making the achievement even more remarkable. And this was Alice’s version of a holiday!

One hundred years later, her story continues to inspire, and we're proud to be working to honour her legacy through the Alice Anderson Public Art Project!

04/08/2026

🔥 It feels like Melbourne has Alice Anderson fever… and it's getting bigger than Ben Hur!

"She turned a lot of heads, but for the wrong reason." Just a couple of fabulous quotes from Loretta Smith in this great article!

Alice had a deep connection to Narbethong and the Yarra Ranges 🌿 As a child and teenager, she lived here with her family, exploring the bush and hills, developing the adventurous spirit, curiosity, practicality and leadership that would define her extraordinary life.

It was a pleasure to chat with journalist Anne Richey from the 'Alexandra Standard and Yea Chronicle' about Alice's early years, her family, and the inspiration behind the Alice Anderson Statue Project.

We're thrilled to see Alice's story reaching even more people across Melbourne and beyond. Every article, every conversation and every share helps keep her remarkable legacy alive! 💛

16/07/2026

One of the lovely moments of this year was meeting Kew’s own trailblazing mechanic and garage owner, Melissa Coakley. 🔧❤️

Melissa and her brother John have been running Coakley Motors on High St for over 35 years, carrying on the family business their dad started back in 1963. After her family sold the nursery business next door (now Jonothan’s), Melissa decided to train as a mechanic, and never looked back!

When we first popped into the garage with an Alice Anderson flyer, Melissa had never heard of Alice. She was so excited to learn her story!

We visited again this week and Melissa shared some fantastic photos of herself at the garage in the early ‘90s, plus a 1991 VACC magazine article about her business.

A big thank you to Melissa and Coakley Motors for so generously supporting our Winter Solstice fundraiser at Boroondara Cemetery. We’re so grateful! ✨

10/07/2026

Time to reflect and celebrate the community that has formed around this fabulous Alice statue project!

10/07/2026

Here I am in front of the Alice board, and it’s been about a week since we finished our fundraising. We had an absolutely phenomenal response!

We’ve now raised $47,800 through the Australian Cultural Fund. But what’s been really exciting is the sense of community that has come out of this project.

Our final donor is someone within our network of Alice fans. She came to me after the 30th of June asking how far off the $15,000 stretch target you’d set for June? I said we were still a little over $5,000 short but that the fundraising campaign had finished. She said, “Women- supporting-women. I really want to help you close that gap.”

So I went back to the Australian Cultural Fund and asked if we could reopen the page to receive this fabulous additional donation. They said yes, and what came from that was this $5,305 donation, which gets us to our $15,000 stretch target.

It’s absolutely incredible. What it’s shown me is just such faith in the people around us. People who didn’t know Alice before, who have completely fallen in love with her story and ths project and who have asked, “How can I help? What do you need? How much do you need?”and have given. It is truly spectacular. So I’m here today, wanting to celebrate Alice!