Punta Arenas; A great city full of attractions where one of its must-sees is visiting the monument to the Sheepdog, but we have a question worth asking ourselves:

What is the monument to the Sheepdog and why was it built? Who is the man who is honored with his dogs, horses and the handful of sheep that accompany him.

The firm voice resounded in the silence of that cold day. The verses of the poet José Grimaldi moved the audience, and especially Abel Oyarzún, the sheepdog who had served as a figure for the work of the sculptor Germán Montero Carvallo.

Sunday, April 1, 1962. Hundreds of people gathered shortly before 11 am in the central bandejón of Avenida Manuel Bulnes to attend an emotional moment of great significance for the community: the inauguration of the Monument to the Sheepdog.

The sculptural group had been financed by the philanthropist, rancher and former consul of Spain, Francisco Campos Torrealba at the beginning of 1940, within the framework of a project promoted by General Ramón Cañas Montalva.

Four years later the first part of this work was inaugurated. The sculptures belonged to the young artist Montero Carvallo, who worked as a professor at the Industrial School of Punta Arenas.

The sculptor himself asked José Grimaldi to help him find a man to serve as a model. The poet would come to the Mina Rica ranch, where Abel Oyarzún worked.

Days later, the sheepdog posed in workshops on Avenida Colón, near the waterfront, with his horse Santiago and his dogs Black and Valiente.

The 1962 ceremony

That morning in 1962, it was Francisco Campos Menéndez who delivered the work on behalf of his father Francisco, who had died just a year earlier.

In his speech, he would say: “About 20 years ago, on February 18, 1944, in this same place, my father delivered to the Illustrious Municipality of Magallanes the primitive Monument to the Sheepdog.

This inaugural ceremony was enhanced with the presence of the then President of the Republic, Juan Antonio Ríos.

In truth, we know that, from that date, it was a permanent commitment of the donor to seek the remodeling in bronze of the magnificent figures, previously sculpted in granite, that make up the current sculptural group ”.

His father had pointed out in that same place that “the Monument to the Sheepdog will be a landmark that signals gratitude to the forgers of yesterday, hope to the fighters of today and an example to the generations of tomorrow.

From that sheepdog of ours who inspired the verses of the poet Grimaldi, the corporeal image of this monument emerged: it is the symbol of the Magellanic country man, surrounded by his inseparable companions of work: the rustic horse, faithful dogs and pineapple of meek sheep that he is herding in silence and with patience in the face of the wind that cuts him through the immense and brave solitude ”.

Exactly that April 1, 1962, José Grimaldi Acotto would recite his verses before the emotion of the shepherd Abel Oyarzún and of a community that saw how the mayor of the commune Ernesto Guajardo Gómez cut the ribbon and the diocesan bishop, Monsignor Vladimiro Boric, blessed the construction site.