When they visit Adelaide, dedicated Holden fans like to make a pilgrimage down the Port Road to the site of the original GM-H factory at Woodville.
This was the site of the Holden’s Motor Builders factory, which merged in 1931 with General Motors Australia to start the Holden empire. The company’s headquarters moved to Fishermen’s Bend in Melbourne in 1936, but Holden bodies were still being built at Woodville up until the Commodore period.
But there’s another, lesser-known piece of Holden history in Adelaide. It’s inside the Art Gallery of South Australia on North Terrace. Guarding the entrance to Gallery IV are two small bronze lions by the artist Rayner Hoff.
Around 1930, Holden’s asked the artist to adapt these for use as its company logo, and with several changes along the way this design remained the basic essence of the famous Holden Lion right up until the company's closure. The original statues were donated to the gallery in 1996 by Lady Holden and her family in memory of company founder, Sir James Holden.
According to the gallery, these mythical beasts are symbols of 'contained energy'. We know them better as the prototypes for Rory the Lion.
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