The word Eternity was a graffito tag recorded over an approximate 35-year period from 1932 to 1967, written numerous times in chalk in the streets of Sydney, Australia. The word had been written by Arthur Stace, an illiterate former soldier, petty criminal and alcoholic who became a devout Christian in the late 1940s.
For years after his conversion up until his death in 1967, Arthur Stace walked the streets of Sydney writing the single word "Eternity" on walls and footpaths in his unmistakable copperplate handwriting. His identity remained unknown until it was finally revealed in a newspaper article in 1956. It is estimated Stace wrote the word over half a million times. [1]
Only two original Eternity inscriptions are known to exist. One is on a piece of cardboard Stace gave to a fellow parishioner, and is held by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. [2] The other, and the only remaining inscription in situ, is inside the bell of the Sydney General Post Office clock tower. [3]
After Stace's death, the Eternity signature lived on. Australian contemporary artist, illustrator and filmmaker Martin Sharp noticed it and celebrated Stace's one-man campaign in many of his works. More recently, some Australian Christian groups, including those at universities, have run evangelistic campaigns whose promotion involved chalking "Eternity", after Stace's fashion, on footpaths.[ citation needed ]
As part of the fireworks on Sydney Harbour to mark New Year's Day of the year 2000, the graffito "Eternity" was illuminated on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. [4] [5] This moment was symbolically recreated later that year as part of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony, beamed to billions of television viewers worldwide.
In 2001 the Council of the City of Sydney was granted a trademark (817532) on the script in order to protect it from indiscriminate commercial use. [6]
Sydney-based Australian non-denominational publication Eternity, founded in 2009, was named after the tag. [7]
One of the works by English street artist Banksy during his October 2013 "residency" in New York City [8] depicts a worker washing away the Eternity tag. [9]
Sculptor Will Coles used the words on a concrete can. [10]
Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
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The following lists events that happened during 1967 in Australia.
Arthur Malcolm Stace, known as Mr Eternity, was an Australian soldier. He was an alcoholic from his teenage years until the early 1930s, when he converted to Christianity and began to spread his message by inscribing the word "Eternity" in copperplate writing with yellow chalk on footpaths and doorsteps in and around Sydney, from Martin Place to Parramatta, from 1932 to his death in 1967. He has become somewhat of a legend in the local folklore of the city, and the story of his life has inspired books, museum exhibits, statues, an opera, and a film.
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Eternity is a term in philosophy referring to the idea of forever or to timelessness.
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The Eternity Man is a chamber opera in one act and seven scenes by the Australian composer Jonathan Mills to a libretto by Dorothy Porter. It deals with the life of Arthur Stace who was known as "The Eternity Man" because he chalked the word "Eternity" about 500,000 times in over 35 years on Sydney's walls and footpaths.
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This is one of only two examples of Arthur Stace's Eternity still in existence.