For many towns a four-sided square is sufficient. Not so for the "planned town" of Westport - where norms are doubled to form "the Octagon". The octagonal monument in the centre was originally erected in the mid-19th century in memory of a wealthy local - a decade or so ahead of the first date in our catalogue's "1865-1914" range. But we wondered whether we could refine the date range for this Lawrence/French shot.

That the statue still had a head and appeared unaffected by damage that [/photos/beachcomberaustralia/ beachcomberaustralia] noted confirmed that the image likely didn't exceed the late 1910s. However, our eagle-eyed sleuths were able to refine further. [/photos/129555378@N07/ sharon.corbet] was quick to point out that the distant spire put the earliest date in the 1870s. [/photos/91549360@N03/ O Mac PRO] suggested that the electric lights might imply an early 20th-century date - and this seems to have been confirmed by a "1902" date in the graffiti spotted by [/photos/beachcomberaustralia/ beachcomberaustralia] (and corroborated by [/photos/gnmcauley/ Niall McAuley] and [/photos/8468254@N02/ derangedlemur]).

Ultimately through the community's efforts we have learned that the monument did succumb to various attempts, and the original statue of George Glendenning (1770-1843) was replaced by one of St Patrick in the late 20th century...

Photographer: French, Robert (1841-1917)

Contributors: Lawrence, William (1840-1932)

Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection

Date: Listed as ca. 1865-1914 (but likely ca. 1902)

NLI Ref: L_ROY_07558