A distinctly odd statue of a dog, Of sorts. There's a plaque nearby which provides a couple of names but was distinctly ambiguous about whether the names were of the sculptor, or the statue, or...

Anyway, further research has revealed that the sculpture is named Larry La Trobe. (From a combination of "Larry" representing larrikinism, and "La Trobe" being a name that you'll find in many places in Melbourne following Charles La Trobe's tenure as the first Lieutenant Governor of Victoria.)

The sculptor is Pamela Irving, who created Larry in 1992.

However the story took an interesting twist in 1995 when the original statue of Larry was stolen. The one that you see here is a reproduction (only slightly different from the original to give it its own character), paid for by Peter Kolliner and cast from the original mould.

What happened to the original Larry? No one (aside from those who stole him) knows, but he may well be chewing on those great bronze bones in the sky...