Shedley Door handle plaques

Twenty-eight door handle plaques were designed by Geoff Shedley, South Australian Housing Trust Architect.  They were displayed in the City of Elizabeth Council Chambers.

Two panels each containing four faces.  One panel contains the portrait of Sir Thomas Playford and the other the portrait of J.P Cartledge.  The remaining three visages on each panel are bizarre masks devised in the manner of the grotesque heads seen in medieval cathedrals.  The extremes of human nature depicted are indented to contrast with the portraits of two of the men associated with the creation of the city.

Shedley is quoted as saying in a Messenger article, ‘ I settled on large door handles to help give a sense of grandeur which was so lacking those days”.

Seven of the plaques were set in front of the Mayor’s bench. Six of a double E design set in a diamond shape of the southern cross and crest of Elizabeth.

Their portraits are not always at 12 o’clock because of the limited number of panels.  This could mean that their decisions were no always perfect.

The wry grimaces of the grotesque being no relation to the characters of these two gentlemen other than to show them as battlers through a maze of haphazard’s to achieve their purpose/

1. T Playford
2. Vengeance
3. Cynicism
4. The
5. JP Cartledge
6. The lightweight
7. The schemer
8. The braggart
9. Justice (woman with scales)
10. Conflict (woman with swords)
11. Work (welder)
12. Family (Mother and child
13. Crest of City of Elizabeth
14. Double E design in the southern cross (diamond shape)