General News
23 September, 2025
Men’s Shed’s metal mascot
A striking new structure now stands outside Maryborough Men’s Shed, a deliberate effort to showcase the group’s work and welcome others to take part.
The statue’s main creator Steve Sheward said the three metre tall man represents not only an invitation, but the vast projects the group does.
“It was just to get some attention to the shed, really. We thought if we do this, it’s attention for us. That is the reason why we started doing this,” he said.
“It’s made up as you go along. We make things for the market. That’s how we survive. But in the interim, when we aren’t doing something like that, we needed something else to do.”
After months of the figure’s limbs being built and then tucked away, it was revamped within weeks.
“So when we came up with the idea, it took about eight months all up. Not to make the whole thing, but I started off by making the feet, then one of the legs, and that was under the bench for the last six months,” Mr Sheward said.
“It’s only been the last couple of months where we ran out of things to make for the market. So we just started making it from scratch again and added pieces as we went on. So most of it really took two months.”
The statue is deliberately made from welding together what the community associates most with their work, a variety of tools.
“We tried to keep it to tools, we get a lot of them donated. Some you can use, some you can’t use. We’ve got so many, we thought we could put something together.”
The group currently has 26 members, and work together to create colourful items for farmers markets, including candle holders, large planters, and animal statues.
“It’s not just run of the mill things we make, we like making quirky things, and that attracts people at the markets. Every time we create something new, we can make a few more,” Mr Sheward said.
“We even make things for school functions or do repairs.”
The group’s president, Mike Haines said the organisation’s operation in Maryborough is part of a broader global presences.
“At 26 members, including one female member, we are average size. There are more Men’s Sheds in Australia than there are McDonalds. 72 countries of the world have got Men’s Shed, but it started right here in Australia,” he said.
Mr Haines is welcoming any members of the community who are interested in joining, to contact the group’s president on 0418 658 822.