These little pigs became the most hugged, ridden and popular of the Mall in Adelaide city's main shops strip from 1999
The pigs celebrating their 21st birthday in Adelaide city's Rundle Mall in 2020.
Image courtesy Rundle Mall
Four little pigs in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall are the city’s best known and most hugged, touched and ridden pieces of public sculpture. The life-size pigs form a sculpture called A Day Out by South African-born and Sydney-based sculptor Marguerite Derricourt, winner of a national competition run by the Adelaide City Council as part of the 1997 upgrade of the mall.
The warm response to the pigs after their launch by lord mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith in 1999 prompted the city Ccouncil and The Advertiser newspaper to run a competition to name them. A plaque by each animal records that Sarah Chan called the standing pig Oliver, Sam Andt named the happy pig Truffles, Dorothy Arnold chose Augusta for the pig sniffing the waste bin; and Jemmy Bridges called the sitting pig Horatio.
Derricourt said she was partly inspired for the Rundle Mall pigs by Pietro Tacca’s 1612 fountain Il Porcellino (piglet), a sculpture of a proud bronze boar. in Florence, Italy. His snout had been rubbed to a shine by visitors and this became a custom – plus hugs and rides – with the Rundle Mall pigs.
After some initial concern about health risks posed by children riding the pigs, Oliver’s protruding tail was removed. As part of the 2013-2014 Rundle Mall upgrade, the Rundle Mall Pigs literally flew – hoisted by cranes onto trucks to be restored before their return to the mall.
With its penchant for creating mascots for its icons, Adelaide celebrated the pigs’ 21st year in the mall with party in July 2020 attended by Balfours bakery’s Green Frog, Robern Menz’s Mr Fruchoc, Kytons Bakery’s Larry the Lamington and Charlesworth Nuts’ Charley the Peanut.
