The World Turns by Michael Parekowhai - HFF

Constructed in bronze by New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai, "The World Turns" shows a 16-foot-high (five-meter-high) elephant frozen in time as it topples from a boulder. It looks as though the behemoth just finished a slow, graceful fall, having landed balanced on its head.

Get closer to the artwork, and you'll realize the topsy-turvy elephant is staring right at a little kuril that's curled up nearby, scratching its tail. The kuril, a water rat, is one of the many caretakers of the traditional Aboriginal land where the museum stands. The creature is linked to the mangroves that run along the Kurilpa Point shoreline on the opposite river bank.

In the artwork, the kuril has casually upended the world—and the huge elephant with it. This is meant to show that while history records just part of events, the world is always turning.