Coal Loader Palm Grove (2026) is a permanent public artwork by Mike Hewson for the Sydney Fish Market precinct. The work integrates native palm trees with steel remnants of a coal loader crane that once stood over the water at this site.

The crane structure has been partially dismantled and repositioned at ground level. Native palms grow through and around the steel, creating a direct physical relationship between living material and engineered form. Landscape and structure are treated as a single system that requires ongoing maintenance and care.

Painted surface treatments were developed in collaboration with artist Shaun Daniel Allen (Shal) and painter Edward Woodley. The coating system functions as corrosion protection while remaining visibly worked rather than concealed.

Coal Loader Palm Grove reflects Hewson’s ongoing interest in how public artworks operate under real conditions, including weather, maintenance requirements, and public proximity, rather than as isolated sculptural objects.