The Albert Memorial (to the consort of Queen Victoria) stands guard over Albert Hall in South Kensington. The monument’s four corners represent the reach of the Empire: Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa. The absence of Australia gives us more an insight into imperial thinking than the problem of pentagonal monument design. Dominion was sought over people rather than places. So a land barely populated with convicts and native inhabitants hardly rated. Given the ostentatious monument (which Albert didn’t want anyway), I’m glad of the imperial oversight.