Leisa Newman, at the fibreglass animal menagerie at 51 Dominion Circuit, Forrest. Photo: James Coleman.
Cool suburb. Needs more giraffes.
It’s what Brett Hayman and Lesia Newman thought shortly after relocating their family to the leafy Inner South suburb of Forrest in 2014.
“We, with our young kids, moved into a very well-to-do, very proper, well-established neighbourhood, with lots of perfectly manicured lawns, and wanted to create some fun,” Leisa says.
“It just sort of grew from there.”
Nowadays, there’s no missing the result.
A whole animal farm has taken over the front lawn of 51 Dominion Circuit, including two elephants, a pig, five sheep, a couple of lambs and piglets, a monkey, a sheep dog, several chickens, and yep, a four-metre-tall fibreglass giraffe.
They move around too – depending on the season, or the event, or how drunk the people doing the moving are.
“During the Tennis Open, Brett had them all lined up, playing tennis, and then during COVID, we had them all spaced out, until we were allowed to go out for walks, and then we had the sheep out here pushing a pram of baby lambs with all their face masks on,” Leisa says.
“One time, our business partners’ adult kids got very drunk and we woke up the next day, Christmas Day, and kids were walking past with their grandparents while one sheep was ‘doing’ the other one, and I was just like, ‘OMG, I’m so sorry’.”
Leisa Newman, brainchild of the fibreglass animal menagerie at 51 Dominion Circuit, Forrest. Photo: James Coleman.
The five sheep, now in various states of amputation and perched on a garden bench, were the first – purchased from a home store in the Canberra Outlet Centre.
“We’d been talking about how we wanted a sheep for the lawn, so I phoned Brett, and said, ‘You’re not going to believe what I’ve just found’.”
A ram followed, bought from Bowral, which attracted no shortage of photos when seated in the passenger side of Leisa’s red Porsche en route back to Canberra.
The giraffe turned up the wick, bought from a dedicated fibreglass animal maker in South Australia for about $2000.
They’re definitely visible from the road. Photo: James Coleman.
But rather than pay double to ship it over, it so happened Brett was going to be in Adelaide for a business meeting at the time, so a small truck was hired and it was soon on the road – along with two pigs, three lambs and a monkey Leisa also included in the order.
However, while driving through the Hay Plains, the truck caught the attention of the local constabulary, who pulled them over (it turns out renting trucks to use as interstate drug mules isn’t uncommon out that way).
Leisa says Brett and his co-driver then had to explain to the police officer why an enormous fibreglass giraffe was hanging off the back of their truck, and why, as far-fetched as it sounded, this didn’t mean they were therefore as high as kites.
Apart from the sheer appealing absurdity of the idea, Leisa maintains there was a solid commercial reason for getting the giraffe, too.
“When we launched Hayman Partners, one of our mantras was to be like a giraffe – keep your feet grounded, but reach for the stars.”
The elephants were the latest acquisition, gingerly driven from one of the garden centres in Pialligo on the back of a ute in 2016.
In the years since, Leisa has had to repaint them – and in the case of the elephants, repair hail damage.
“The elephant ended up with a big hole in it, and we’ve only got around to it in the last 12 months, so I had to tell everyone that poachers tried to get him.”
Most of the sheep have lost a leg or two … or worse. Photo: James Coleman.
But it’s all worth it for the reactions.
“There’s been plenty of fun and antics,” Leisa recalls.
“One time, two teenagers from up the road got absolutely tanked, jumped the fence and took the elephant, the two lambs, the baby pig and a sheep, and we found them dumped up the road – so we got them back.
Another time, a couple of older ladies walked past just when Brett and Leisa were putting the then fairly worn-out ram in the back of the ute to send to “ram heaven” (ie, the tip).
“They told us about how their Dad always used to walk past, and loved the ram, and asked if they could have it to put outside his bedroom window so he could see it,” she says.
“We brought the ram around to their house ourselves, and strategically placed him in the garden, and there was the Dad in the window waving at us with a big smile.”
Who doesn’t love a little bit of monkey business? Photo: James Coleman.
Another neighbour also leaves limericks in the mailbox, based on what the animals are doing when he walks past. And Brett and Leisa will often hear passing school kids calling out excitedly from the footpath.
But it may not be for much longer.
“We’ve actually bought an apartment elsewhere, and we’re trying to get approval to crane the giraffe into one of the public spaces when we eventually sell this place, and apparently, the body corporate is pretty excited about it.”
In the meantime, you can follow the animals’ antics on Instagram.
