A statue immortalising journalist, comedian and disability rights advocate Stella Young has been unveiled in her home town in western Victoria.
The bronze statue was on Thursday unveiled in Cato Park at Stawell, where Minister for Women Natalie Hutchins joined Young's family, artists and the wider community in an official ceremony.
The comedian used humour to challenge Australians to think differently about disability and was the outspoken editor of the ABC's Ramp Up website.
Documentary filmmaker Sarah Barton, a friend and former colleague of Young's, said the statue showed that just because people had a disability, it didn't mean they were fragile or vulnerable.
"Stella worked on her disability pride - she always said she had to work at it, but she was a very proud woman," she told AAP.
Barton collaborated with a group of artists including Jillian Pearce, Janice Florence, Fayen D'Evie, and Lynne and Greg Young to develop the vision for the project, which was created by sculptor Danny Fraser.
The group's efforts led to the statue having a focus on accessibility, including a porcelain QR code on a sandstone plinth for vision-impaired visitors.
The code takes people to a website about Young, while motion sensors on the statue trigger audio.
Barton described Young's work as game-changing and said there were many things the comedian taught society that remained relevant.
Ms Hutchins said the disability rights advocate was a "force to be reckoned with".
"Through words and wit, through intelligence and humour, she called on society to raise its expectations about what people with disability are capable of," she said.
"She challenged our ideas and assumptions, demanded that we learn from people with disability's lived experience and then take action to build a better, fairer and more inclusive society."
Northern Grampians Shire Council mayor Kevin Erwin said the project highlighted how much work needed to be done to ensure true accessibility.
Young died in 2014 at the age of 32 and was an activist on issues including disability, gender equality and education.
She was a member of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council and Women with Disabilities Victoria.
She also won the Best Newcomer Award at the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival for her show Tales from the Crip and was set to tour Australia and take her act to London in 2015.
The statue is the first of six artworks to be unveiled as part of the $1 million Victorian women's public art program, which the state government says is indicative of its commitment to ensuring better recognition of women's achievements.
Australian Associated Press
