Lisanne Gibson and Joanna Besley, Monumental Queensland: Signposts on a Cultural Landscape. Pp. 268. $49.95. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 2004.

By surveying and documenting outdoor cultural objects, the authors of this book seek to inform communities about the significance of their public art objects and to provide a starting point for people to value such artworks as expressing what is unique about their experience and understanding of Queensland, Australia (p. 7). However, this begs the question of public value. People in colonial times (nineteenth century) gave private subscriptions to have public monuments and memorials erected, and currently, Queensland has a Public Art Agency whose enabling legislation makes it mandatory for all public works projects to fund public art works associated with and integral to new construction, as part of the “Art Built-In” program. Queenslanders clearly like monuments!