13. Jul
2016
The Lady Mermaid was sculpted from a piece of wood cut from the banyan tree that once stood in front of the Castaway Hotel by the proprietor and tourism entrepreneur Ken Prentice.
The wood was bleached in the salt water of Emily Bay for six months when the Castaway Hotel was being renovated, and was then hung in the public bar.
The sculpture was removed by two long term patrons of the hotel when it was sold in 1984, and returned for the prosperity and goodwill of the new and current owners, Tony and Sarah Watts, in 2015. Saran is Ken’s grandaughter.
