Arthur Stace 'Mr Eternity' Memorial

Photograph from Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries

Learn more at https://acl.asn.au/resources/eternity/

From Facebook:

Arthur Stace, a homeless alcoholic lived in the Streets of Sydney, Australia.
After a conversion to Christianity, he quit drinking, and spent the rest of his life writing the word “Eternity” all over the city in yellow chalk. He is said to have written it over five hundred thousand times.
He is remembered in Sydney for his nearly 40-years of colorful lettering, which was designed to prompt people to think about eternity and their own mortality. Begining in the 1930s Arthur Stace spent his early morning hours writing the word “Eternity” in a distinctive cursive style in every doorway, on every street, and major entrance to a public area that he could find in Sydney.
For years, the citizens of the city wondered who was writing the “one word sermon” and why. Every once in a while, someone would claim responsibility for the graffiti and the newspapers would print the stories.
In 1956, Stace was a member of the Burton Street Baptist Church, where he also served as the janitor and a prayer leader.
One day, the pastor of the church, Rev. Lisle M. Thompson, stumbled across Stace while he was writing his chalk message on a sidewalk and the mystery of the “Eternity” messages all over Sydney was solved.
Stace said that after his conversion to Christianity, he heard a sermon in which the evangelist said “Eternity! Eternity! Oh, that this word could be emblazoned across the streets of Sydney!”
In his simple way, Stace decided to do that. He also stood in the main streets of Sydney and told ten people a day about how to get to heaven.
Arthur Stace “Mr. Eternity” memorial.

From EternityNews:

As night fell on 31 December 1999, five million Sydneysiders looked forward to hours of splendid celebration. It was the eve of the twenty-first century; the eve of the third millennium. A feast of live entertainment was planned, much of it on Sydney’s majestic, incomparable harbour.

At ten seconds to midnight the countdown began. Then, as the new millennium arrived, there came a massive fireworks display – perhaps the most spectacular ever seen in Australia – that lasted 24 minutes. The focal points were Sydney’s two matchless icons of engineering: the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. At the end, a fiery cascade erupted downwards from the Bridge’s deck. The bells of a dozen churches pealed loudly.

And then, as the smoke cleared, it came into view – emblazoned in gold letters just below the apex of the Bridge’s towering arch. The first written word of the third millennium, in distinctive copperplate script:

Eternity

The crowds cheered with gusto. This was a word deeply and affectionately associated with the history of Sydney – and with one man in particular. He was not the first person to write “Eternity” around the streets of Sydney, but he was certainly the most prolific. He did it using chalk or crayon every day for almost 35 years, perhaps half a million times in all.

His name was Arthur Malcolm Stace. He had died 32 years before, but was far from forgotten.