{"id":520752,"date":"2026-07-11T10:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520752\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:02:13","slug":"kiwi-born-artist-horatio-t-birdbaths-final-wish-to-bring-his-art-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/520752\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi-born artist Horatio T. Birdbath\u2019s final wish to bring his art home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OneOne of Birdbath’s most notable works is a Fremantle mural dubbed “Horatio’s Wall”. Photo \/ Kellee Mitchell<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main bodies of his work that are really obviously something that the museum would be interested in, you know. We have that stored under lock and key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter said the group hoped to donate part of the restored collection to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, fulfilling Birdbath\u2019s wish for his work to return to his birthplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people from Wellington would really dig Fremantle because they\u2019re very, very similar cities in that love of culture and street art,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As friends work to preserve his artistic legacy, they are also preparing to celebrate the man behind it.<\/p>\n

Hunter said she had been overwhelmed by the response following his death, with a Facebook group created to memorialise Birdbath already amassing more than 1500 members.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter studying fine arts in New Zealand, Birdbath moved to Australia and eventually settled in Perth. Photo \/ Rodney Stratton<\/p>\n

His memorial this weekend is expected to attract more than 1000 of his friends and admirers, with the City of Fremantle making the Town Hall available for the \u201cFestival of Horatio\u201d.<\/p>\n

The July 12 celebration will begin at one of Birdbath\u2019s best-known public artworks before a procession, led by local marching band Junkadelic, makes its way to the Town Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be performers, like people with hula hoops. There\u2019s, you know, people singing, that sort of thing will be happening for the three hours or so at the Town Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendees are invited to give three-minute eulogies and browse clothing and other personal items from Birdbath\u2019s wardrobe to wear in his honour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going to be offered up in like an op shop style for people to wear on the day, and all the proceeds from that go towards helping his next of kin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BirdbathBirdbath was well-known in Fremantle for his eccentric fashion and life philosophies. Photo \/ Nerissa Worwood<\/p>\n

Hunter said Birdbath was \u201cinterwoven into the fabric\u201d of the city, his colourful wardrobe, public artworks and quiet generosity making him a familiar face around Fremantle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of people who really loved that guy\u201d, she said. \u201cHe was like very, very introverted and very private, with this eccentric kind of side to him in how he dressed and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He once told Hunter to always \u201cgive way to butterflies\u201d, a phrase she said reflected his ability to see the world in a way that was \u201cbeautiful and simple and profound\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so him\u201d, she said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, observing, seeing the beautiful things that other people don\u2019t see or maybe don\u2019t respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quirky life philosophy is one of the many things friends say they\u2019ll carry with them, alongside memories of a man who made Fremantle a little more colourful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Birdbath’s most notable works is a Fremantle mural dubbed “Horatio’s Wall”. Photo \/ Kellee Mitchell \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1228,1628,4914,258162,3021,30705,8615,124,156,5904,1445,2070,293,1345,29529,258161,82593,6176,102150,15220,111,139,69,5202,72,1527,2249,37147,61,52,49493,24529,102,4576,118],"class_list":["post-520752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-artists","tag-birdbaths","tag-bring","tag-circle","tag-come","tag-could","tag-entertainment","tag-final","tag-friends","tag-full","tag-his","tag-home","tag-hoping","tag-horatio","tag-kiwiborn","tag-legacy","tag-lifes","tag-line","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-part","tag-perth","tag-return","tag-soon","tag-t","tag-to","tag-wellington","tag-wish","tag-wishes","tag-with","tag-work","tag-zealandborn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}