A Day Out: the Rundle Mall pigs

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The four charismatic and charming pigs that appear to roam Rundle Mall are a favourite with both children and adults. They provide their admirers with rides, hugs and even a place to sit. The pigs seem indifferent to their celebrity as they enjoy a day out in the city.

The four pigs won Adelaide City Council’s Rundle Mall National Sculpture Competition for the upgraded Rundle Mall in 1997. South African-born and Sydney-based sculptor Marguerite Derricourt was the winner. Her four bronze pigs were unveiled on July 3, 1999.

Derricourt said she was partly inspired by Pietro Tacca’s 1612 fountain in Florence, Italy. Known as Il Porcellino (piglet), it is a sculpture of a proud, bronze boar.

The public loved the four pigs and there was a second competition to name them. They are Oliver (standing), Horatio (sitting), Truffles (sniffing the ground), and Augusta.

As part of the 2013-2014 Rundle Mall upgrade, the Rundle Mall Pigs had a “night out”. Pigs literally flew. The four were hoisted by cranes onto trucks to be restored before their return to the mall. Adelaide City Council project manager Tom McCready said he was “pleased to report that all four pigs were very well behaved as we herded them on to the truck ... and they will be carefully attended to by expert pig minders (artists) while they are on holiday”.

Some people believe the pigs are meant to signify the shoppers at Rundle Mall sniffing out a bargain.