Have you ever taken the Goodna exit heading from Brisbane, and looked over at Leslie Park and wondered what that tall metal sculpture in the garden was?
Well, we’re glad you asked.
Upon closer inspection, we discovered it was in fact a sun dial.
The sundial was installed in 2013, after the Goodna Neighbourhood House’s Tom Boyle and Ipswich artist David Sikes received a grant from the Community Renewal project.
The Western Corridor Recycle Water pipeline was chosen as the spot to place artwork at Leslie Park, Goodna.
The sundial consists of a tall pole with a series of wildlife sculptures on top. The wallaby sits the highest and his tale casts a shadow that falls across 6 large sandstone cubes.
They are contained in a semi-circle shape, marking out from 6am to 6pm.
The animals on top are all Australian fauna local to Ipswich, Division 2 Councillor Paul Tully said.
“I am often asked about the artwork in Leslie Park Goodna, opposite the BP Service Station,” Cr Tully said.
“Sundials are no longer common but we are lucky to have this one here in Goodna.
“It is a good educational tool for our children, letting them know and see how time was calculated before the days of clocks, watches, iPhones or the internet.
“This sundial is passed by 100 000 vehicles a day on the Ipswich Motorway.”
A Goodna Neighbourhood House employee at the time, Tom Boyle remembers getting the project off the ground.
“We wanted to build a sundial because it was old technology and anyone can walk up to it and be able to tell the time, without having to look at a clock or phone,” Mr Boyle said.
“I usually still have a look every time I go past. It’s rather unique and I think it was a good thing.”
Since the sun has been rising and setting and our ancestors decided it would be handy to keep track of it, some form of sundial has been in existence.
The earliest sundials on archaeological record were called shadow clocks and can be traced back to 1500BC.
As the sun moves from east to west, the pole or stick, called a gnomon, throws a shadow onto the dial. They are generally calculated depending on the length and position of the shadow.
Due to the tilted axis of the earth, most sundials are only correct four times a year. The rest of the time, they can be up to 15 minutes early or late.
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