Thomas Vallance Wran, stone mason and carver, emigrated from London with his family, first settling in Queensland before moving to Balmain, New South Wales. Wran sculpted the Royal Coat of Arms on the Chief Secretary’s Building, (originally known as the Colonial Secretary’s Building), at 121 Macquarie Street, Sydney in 1876. In 1882, he carved the faces in the keystones of the General Post Office along the Pitt Street frontage and the Royal Coat of Arms in the same facade, and the faces in the keystones along the eastern extension of the Martin Place colonnade in 1885.
Wran is identified as the sculptor for the Royal Coat of Arms of the Chief Secretary’s Building by way of a signature carved into the rear of the carving: 'T V WRAN SCULPT. 1876’. His work on the Pitt Street facade of the General Post Office is referenced in an article from the Sydney Morning Herald ( SMH ), 22 September 1882: “A large Royal Coat of Arms has already been placed in position here, and Mr. Thomas V. Wran, who carved it, has just finished four large female heads representing Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and bearing the fruits and flowers which are seen during those seasons.”
Wran’s carving on the keystones of the Martin Place colonnade was judged favourably in a later article from the SMH , 17 March 1885: “... in regard to the sculptured heads which form the keystones of the colonnade, Mr. T. V. Wran, the chiseller, has aimed at variety, and has, in fact, produced an excellent array of faces typical of European and other nationalities.”
Wran died in 1895 and is buried in Aden, Arabia.
- Writers:
- Laila Ellmoos
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2011
