CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
As Brisbane continues in their mission to spruce themselves up before hosting the world for the 2032 Olympic Games, the city is investing more into public art than ever before.
From those big steel balls in Queen Street mall, to the Amsterdam rip-off of colourful letters spelling ‘BRISBANE’ in South Bank. Gradually, the city is slowly installing something worth photographing in every cultural precinct.
Sadly, there is not enough time or money to build something that could compete with the Eiffel Tower that appeared in the backdrop of every second Olympic event at Paris Games.
Especially given the fact that ‘Hopoate Fingers’ are no longer on display.
The short-lived but very well-known sculpture of two metallic hands emerging from the ground outside 175 Eagle Street in Brisbane’s CBD became a landmark in it’s own right through the 2000s. That was, until it vanished from the streetscape nearly a decade ago.
With one hand clenched against the ground and another reaching upwards with an up-pointed finger, it is no surprise that this artwork was immediately nicknamed the ‘Hopoate Fingers’ by Brisbane’s cab drivers.
The sculpture’s moniker was a referrence to controversial Sydney former rugby league player John Hopoate, who gained notoriety for poking his finger inside the buttholes of opposing players in 2001.
Just metres from a CBD taxi rank servicing merry nightlife patrons, the nickname spread immediately throughout the city like wildfire.
In fact, the hands became a landmark in a pre-social media Brisbane, often used as a meeting place for friends heading out for a night on the tiles.
It also became a popular past time for every drunk moron in the city to climb on top of the fingers and pretend they were going up their arse, often while moaning.
Unfortunately, the nickname – which again, directly references the fairly distasteful actions of the most suspended man in the history of NRL, became so popular that local finance workers became tarnished with the same brush.
Eventually the skyscraper that this fine artwork sat in front of became known as ‘The Hopoate Building’ – which was probably not ideal for the thousands of high-powered stockbrokers who worked inside it.
After a refurbishment to the building and surrounding precinct in 2015, the Hopoate Fingers were quietly removed.
Should Brisbane bring them back? The Betoota Advocate says yes.
