An unfortunately posed statue of a saint which had to be removed from a Catholic boys' school has been replaced with a park bench and sculptures of animals.
The statue at Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide's inner northern suburbs was unveiled in November 2017 and almost immediately became the subject of ridicule.
St Martin de Porres was depicted with his hand wrapped around a loaf of bread which from some angles appeared to emerge at groin-level from his robes.
A boy in the sculpture stood beside St Martin with this arm outstretched and hand under the bread as he looked up into the 17th Century Peruvian friar's face.
Now where the suggestive statue once stood there is a park bench and a cluster of fibreglass animals including a wombat, kookaburra, koala and labrador.
Principal Simon Cobiac told Daily Mail Australia that 'out of such an unforeseen and unfortunate event' the school had created 'a magical space for children.'
An unfortunate statue (pictured) of a saint which had to be removed from a Catholic boys' school has been replaced with a park bench and sculptures of animals, including a wombat
The statue at Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide's inner north was unveiled in November 2017 but immediately became the subject of ridicule. It was covered in cloth then removed
After consultation with the school community, it was decided not to replaced the suggestive statue. Instead the local Lion's Club of Prospect donated a bench for primary age boys to use
As soon as the statue was unveiled it caused the school embarrassment, with children at the school taking photographs which were posted online.
The pictures went viral after being shared on the S***Adelaide Instagram page, along with the hashtag #putyourbreadrollsoutforblackfriars.
'Like who the hell designed, approved and erected it and no one thought about it?' one critic asked at the time.
Another questioned the commissioning process. 'Was there seriously no one that looked at this before it was installed?' that woman asked.
Another woman could not see what the fuss was about: 'He's just giving the boy some bread.'
BBC News, the New York Post and The Washington Post were among international media outlets which picked up the story.
The school moved quickly to cover then remove the statue, explaining the work was not what they had expected when viewing diagrams.
As well as installing a 'buddy bench', the school has replaced the statue with fibreglass animals including a wombat (pictured), kookaburra and koala crafted by a local business
