Nicholas Laurantus's two statuettes...

..., about fifty centimetres in height, that he prized greatly.

Coming upon them as he did after World War I in a country shop, he had paid £2 for the pair, believing them to be antiques and of great value.

Made of some bronze alloy and finely detailed in their workmanship, they depicted the effects of flood and fire which Nicholas perceived to be the farmer's worst threats. One statuette was of a woman on a rooftop with a child in her arms, the flood waters lapping at her bare feet; the other was of a man holding a child, a blanket over both heads as they descend a ladder from a burning roof. Nicgolas was eager to take them from the shelf and explain their significance to visitors, happy to see them admired by his friends.

Page 87-89, Jean Michaelides. Portrait of Uncle Nick. A Biography of Sir Nicholas Laurantus MBE. Sydney University Press, Sydney. 1987.