But John Klose says he is still no closer to getting action on making alterations to the Edmund Barton statue on Port Macquarie's Town Green.

The Kempsey resident and former Christian Democratic Party candidate for the state seat of Oxley and federal seat of Lyne says the statue does not adequately reflect the contribution Barton made to the enacting of Australia's constitution.

The then-Hastings Council commissioned the sculpture from renowned artist Carl Merten in recognition of Barton - Australia's first prime minister - as part of the centenary of federation celebrations.

If you look closely at the statue, Barton is depicted holding the front page of the draft bill of 1898 which was the work of Robert Randolph Garran, a barrister.

Mr Klose says Port Macquarie-Hastings Council should alter the statue or upgrade signage to better reflect Barton's "incredible achievement" as one of our founding fathers.

"I have been conducting an investigation into how Barton's centenary of federation memorial was allowed to exclude his crowning achievement of 1900, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, while displaying an 1898 draft bill document with Robert Garran's name," he said.

"My wife and I collected over 300 signatures on a petition requesting Barton's signature achievement be displayed, and spoke to the proposal at the petition's presentation to council last year.

"This is a challenge to do justice to Sir Edmund Barton's incredible achievement," he said.

Mr Klose says council has a "moral and legal obligation to take the artist (Carl Merten) to task over the omission of Barton's signature document".

For his part, Mr Merten says he has already addressed Mr Klose's concerns regarding the sculpture of Barton.

"I consider the matter closed. I am not interested in any further discussion," he said.

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Sir Robert Randolph Garran was born on February 10, 1867 in Sydney.

Educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, Garran was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1891 and practised mostly in the equity jurisdiction.

Throughout the 1890s Garran was active in the federation movement, as one of Sir Edmund Barton's youthful helpers, as a councillor of the Australasian Federation League of New South Wales, and as an organiser of and league delegate to the unofficial conferences supporting Federation at Corowa (1893) and Bathurst (1896).

He published The Coming Commonwealth; and Australian Handbook of Federal government (1897), outlining the history of federalism as backdrop to the arguments for and against the 1891 draft constitution.

Garran attended the official federal convention of 1897-98 as secretary to (Sir) George Reid, the then-New South Wales premier.

There he became secretary to the convention's drafting committee, at Barton's request.

During the 1898 and 1899 referendum campaigns Garran organised a small team of lawyers and journalists who disseminated a spate of pro-bill propaganda, largely through New South Wales country newspapers.

He collaborated with Sir John Quick in preparing an Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) to usher in the Federal era.

The book remains a classic history of the federating process and commentary on the constitution.

A Port Macquarie-Hastings Council spokesperson said council has no plans to change the statue of Edmund Barton on Port Macquarie's Town Green.

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, SIGN UP HERE.