The memorial was built in 1926 by Sir Bertram MacKennal and was commissioned by Henry Gullett, a former president of the Shakespeare Society of New South Wales. It depicts not only Shakespeare but five of his most famous characters - Hamlet, Romeo, Juliet, Portia and Falstaff.
In 1959 the statue was repositioned to make way for the Cahill Expressway.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM41D5_William_Shakespeare_Memorial_Sydney_Australia