By Gabriella Payne
After weeks of anticipation and a community vote, the famous giant pheasant statue at the gates of Gumbuya World has finally been given a name – and it’s one with a rich story behind it.
At the naming reveal on Friday 2 July, Gumbuya World CEO Ron Weinzierl commended the many incredible contenders they had seen through the competition and said although there had been many frontrunners, there was one name that was a clear winner – Bruno.
Having received 2,800 public votes in the competition, ‘Bruno’ sat miles ahead as the most popular name for the big bird and was entered in honour of the man who built and sculpted the 20 metre statue over 40 years ago, back in 1978.
As ‘big Bruno’ stood proudly in the background, the original ‘Bruno’ (Bruno Crestani) and his family gathered at the base of the bird on Friday morning to celebrate this momentous occasion, and the Hallam builder said it was a very proud moment for him.
“Thank you everyone,” Bruno said to a live audience of Gumbuya World’s Facebook followers, adding that it felt “pretty nice” to be recognised in this way.
A man of few words, Bruno’s granddaughter Chelsea Bergoc took a moment to thank the public, stating that her and the entire family had been watching the votes climb all week in disbelief.
“Thank you to everyone who voted, it means the absolute world to our family and Bruno,” Chelsea said.
“It is his 90th birthday this month and I couldn’t think of a better present than for the bird to be called Bruno, so thank you so much.”
Chelsea said that her grandfather or ‘poppy’ was incredibly chuffed to see the bird named after him, and it was fantastic that he was able to share this special day with his grand and great-grandkids.
“I just think you couldn’t ask for a better memory for him and it’s going to go through generations,” Chelsea said.
“Everyone’s going to know that Bruno built the bird, and we’re going to have lots of happy memories now – it’s just been a fantastic day.”
Bruno (the man) was a family friend of the then owner of Gumbuya World, Ron Rado, and said that Mr Rado had chased him for months before he finally agreed to build the bird.
“He said you can’t knock me back all the time, come and do it, so I just came up and I worked a week at a time,” Bruno said, adding that the whole project took about three months to complete.
Bruno’s daughter Melinda Salopek said that her father had had help from one other labourer, Bill Vukovic, and the pair had worked tirelessly on the bird, applying three coats of render and shaping the sculpture gradually over the steel frame inside.
“There is a funny little quirk to that story,” Melinda said.
“Because Bruno said the day that they finished rendering the bird, they sat over in the bushes somewhere here to admire their handy work and dark clouds came over the sky like a storm was seriously coming in, and he and Bill both looked at each other and said ‘oh my god, it’s all going to get washed away!’” she said, to which Bruno chimed in.
“It was ready for painting, and we were about that far away (gestures with hands) and this black storm comes in and it just passed away and I said ‘thank god for that!’,” Bruno exclaimed, clasping his hands together as if to pray.
Bruno, who is now a life member at Gumbuya World, spent the rest of the day on Friday enjoying the rides and exhibits at the well-known theme park with his family, all under the watchful eye of big Bruno of course.
