Adelaide Catholic boys' college statue in 2017 inspires the full loaf of 'what a cockup' tabloid headlines around world

The statue of saint Martin de Porres was quickly placed in coverup mode after its arrival from Vietnam.
Statue image courtesy Seven News Adelaide. 

A statue unveiled at an Adelaide Catholic boys college in 2017 became tabloid “cockup” media fodder around the world for an unintended suggestiveness.

The statue at Blackfriars Priory School in suburban Prospect, was quickly covered up – but not before its image went on the internet, after being shared on the Shit Adelaide Instagram page, and was taken up globally by tabloid newspapers such as the New York Post and London Sun.

The statue was created in Vietnam by a sculptor who’d previously worked with the school on its St Dominic statue on the school’s front lawn. The suggestive sculpture depicted 16th Century saint Martin de Porres, a follower of St. Dominic, offering a loaf of bread to a child.

The school said the two-dimensional concept plans from Vietnam for the statue were viewed and approved by the executive team  “but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive”. The statue was immediately covered and a local sculptor commissioned to redesign it.

The school later unveiled a replacement for the contentious figure — a play area for students, including a "buddy bench" where children were encouraged to sit down and make friends with each other, and a variety of fiberglass animal statues. This had created “a magical space for children in the living memory of St Martin de Porres” who “dedicated his life to the caring of both children and animals".