Monumento al Ovejero, Punta Arenas

The Shepherd Monument is a multiple sculpture, made up of twelve life-size figures. It is located in the central alley of Bulnes Avenue, in the city of Punta Arenas, Chile.

A sheepherder is depicted enduring the wind of the pampas, with the reins of his horse in one hand, and in the other a whip to guide his sheep.

It was built on the initiative of General Ramón Cañas Montalva and donated by Francisco Campos Torreblanca, which was inaugurated in its first granite version in 1944, attended by the president of the time, Juan Antonio Ríos.

Mario Isidro Moreno tells in the electronic newspaper RADIOPOLAR that: "The young artist Germán Montero Carvallo, who in 1943 was a professor at the Industrial School of Punta Arenas and had the financial support of the cattle rancher Francisco Campos Torreblanca, was appointed to carry out this work. The skilled creator was inspired to give shape to the monument by the verses of the Magellanic poet José Grimaldi Acotto, which read in part: "It is not the gaucho of the pampas or the cowboy of the prairie; it is not the huaso or the charro, the sheepman of my land". Montero asked the poet to collaborate in finding a man to serve as a model. Grimaldi recalled that in the Mina Rica ranch, next to the fields of his property, worked a real country man, Abel Oyarzún. He spoke with him first and after obtaining his commitment to model, he requested authorization from the owner of the property. He then asked the countryman to come the next day to the sculptor, who was making his preparations in a bodega on Colon Avenue, near the beach. On the day of the appointment, Grimaldi received a phone call from Germán Montero, asking him about a man in a suit and tie who had shown up at the workshop. When the poet went to the place, he verified that it was Abel Oyarzún, for which reason he instructed him that for the purposes of posing he should wear his authentic sheepman's clothing, in addition to bringing his work animals. Thus Oyarzún arrived with his horse Santiago and his dogs Black and Valiente, which were immortalized in the sculpture. "

On April 1, 1962 the current bronze sculpture was inaugurated to ensure its perpetuity and the granite version was donated to the city of Coyhaique, capital of the neighboring region of Aysén, which was a gift from the city of Punta Arenas. It is located on the dividing line of the Baquedano Avenue, which runs parallel to the Coyhaique River, at the northern end of the city.