Workshops

Dedication at The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior 2013

 






It is now twenty years since the Tomb was installed & I was surprised to receive a call from Canberra early in September, just after our exhibition opened at Cronulla Central. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the National War Memorial Directors had planned to have the words of the eulogy that was delivered by the then PM, Paul Keating, cast in bronze  & placed at the entrance to the Hall of Memory, also to have some excerpts from the eulogy carved into the Tomb surround. These words would replace those carved twenty years ago on the front & some that had been added to the back some years later. Somehow the present staff had managed to track down myself & the sculptor who had carved original inscriptions hoping that we would collaborate once more.
I duly received the text & two simulated photographs of how it might look when completed. So it was back to working out the size & laying down strips of paper on the floor ; 900mm high letters looked better than the 800mm height suggested , so that was the height I used . This time I did not have to have the architect’s approval & the drawings went straight to the sculptor.
The staff even tracked down the quarry which had supplied the marble & fortunately some of the same stone was still available so the replacement squares would match the original. Probably the sculptor had carved both inscriptions & the one on the front had been installed when Veteran’s Affairs & others with some political clout, suddenly remembered the reason why the words  “KNOWN UNTO GOD” had been carved on the back of the surround & demanded they not be touched  as they were traditionally displayed on the back of crosses on the old battlefields & were sacred to all memories. So they remain. Unfortunately whoever designed “KNOWN TO GOD” appears not to have much skill in lettering & I have recommended that it be recut.
Olivia