A giant Rubik's Cube sits atop the concrete stormwater outlet at the north end of Maroubra Beach. The concrete cube, measuring about 2 metres square, is painted on each of its four horizontal sides
with nine coloured squares to resemble Erno Rubik's mutli-coloured puzzle. It has become a distinctive part of the beach, an attractive iconic feature that people now associate with Maroubra.
Built 1950
The block is actually the vent for a large concrete stormwater outlet. It was constructed in 1950 by Randwick Council as part of their post-World War Two improvement works to the stormwater system
for the Maroubra area. Locals used to refer to it as the "submarine" because its distinctive shape has the appearance of a submarine with its conning tower berthed on the edge of the sand.
For almost six decades, the tide has washed sand in and out, children have climbed and jumped from it, teenagers have leaned against it, surfers stored their boards on it, and fishermen cast a line. Then
someone decided it was an ideal canvas for some guerrilla public art.
Mystery
Mystery surrounds this retro object d’art which suddenly appeared on the beach one morning in 2008, a puzzle if you will. Rumour has it that the block of concrete was painted in the dead of night by a group of local artists.
Locals tend to be fairly coy about disclosing its origins when asked. It is not the only decoration the stormwater outlet has had in the past.
Around 2007, the stormwater vent had the Bikini Zone street art
Luckily, Coogee Media took a photograph of the stormwater block in June 2017. Going back through our archives, we noticed that the block was painted with a mildly amusing, graffiti like, image
"Bikini Zone, next 1km". A little further to the west of the giant rubik cube, is another vent to the stormwater channel, which has been attractively painted in polka-dots.
References
Randwick City Council, Maroubra Bay Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan Randwick, NSW ; 2016
