May 10, 2013, was the day Skywhale was shown off to Canberra on our front page in all her booby glory. I remember because it was the day my mum died.

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In our grief, our family joked that this bizarre centenary gift to the city she loved so much had been her final straw.

In truth, she knew nothing of the balloon and the controversy that blew up around it when we published photos of Centenary of Canberra director Robyn Archer's grand commission.

She would, I'm sure, have been in the camp of former chief minister Jon Stanhope, who railed at the "giant tortoise shape with pendulous breasts" all the way from his posting on Christmas Island.

"It is the great irony that Robyn has spoken so forcefully and wonderfully against Canberra-bashing and in support of Canberra, but I think she has unwittingly fed the voracious beast," he steamed.

Even our open-minded columnist Ian Warden described it as a "no fun" disappointment. Despite his admiration for creator Patricia Piccinini's other work, he wrote: "Perhaps in thinking of the best balloon for the centenary messrs Archer and Piccinini should have done the demanding work of imagining something that had mass........

© Canberra Times