The opening of the Tom Bass Learning Centre and
the magical unveiling of the Rainbow Serpent Sculpture

This special event occurred on Saturday 18 March 2006 at Erskineville Public School. The program included contributions by local aboriginal elders: traditional smoking ceremony, welcome to country and dance performance.  The Hon Carmel Tebbutt MP, Minister for Education and Training, Member for Marrickville (pictured at the right) opened the Tom Bass Learning Centre, and Clover Moore, MP, Lord Mayor of Sydney (pictured at the left) unveiled the Rainbow Serpent. There were also speeches by Ms. Gai O'Neill, principal of the school, and Tom Bass.

Tom, who was a student at Erskineville public school in the 1920's, delighted the crowd by pointing to the shed, still standing, where, aged 4 or 5, he had been given "hard old plasticine" to model, and had a heated argument with his teacher about whether he should follow the teacher's recipe on how to draw a tree.

Tom described having the learning centre at the school being given his name as an overwhelming honour, most dear and important to him, He outlined how his sense of connection with the school grew into a friendship with the principal, and then - inevitably - ways were found to cement the connection between the two schools, with a sculpture class for the primary school students - his "master class" - and the creation of the Rainbow Serpent by sculptors in his public sculpture course.

The speeches by Carmel Tebbutt, Minister for education and Clover Moore gave tribute to Tom Bass and the unique community spirit at Erskineville. Video excerpts from the day can be viewed below (broadband recommended).