The memorial is about five metres high and consists of seven copper representations of poppy capsules. It was unveiled in March 2004 and although Stephen was present, he died three months later.
From this you might have guessed that the memorial is not dedicated to the famous American author! In fact, it commemorates the man who pioneered the Tasmanian poppy industry.
The pharmaceutical industry needs poppies for morphine, codeine and thebaine. Apparently poppies had been grown in South-East England but the alkaloid content was not fairly low, meaning that insufficient morphine could be produced. Tasmania was identified as an ideal location with an excellent climate for poppy production so Stephen King (an Oxford botanist) emigrated to Tasmania in 1965 to supervise research and production of poppies in the state.
He was tremendously successful, and Tasmania now supplies about fifty per cent of the world’s morphine, codeine and thebaine requirements.
Jean
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