Flowers and gargoyles

In response to a discussion on H-ANZAU, an email list for historians, the following official response was posted by the AWM. It has been slightly edited for presentation here by your lecturer, who is also responsible for generating the discussion. I raised two issues on the list:

_{Flowers
on the Roll of Honor}

I drew attention on the list to the public practice of placing poppies next to names on the Honor Rolls, and a possible link with a comparable public practice (in the way of letters, notes in cracks) that had developed with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. It was also my opinion, based on my own observations, that AWM staff were not enthusiastic, at least initially, about the practice. It has now, however, become an accepted practice by both the public and the AWM. The AWM even sells poppies in its shop.

The Assistant Director, Public Programs responded (Wed, 9 Oct 1996) on the H-ANZAU list:

Subject:REPLY: Monuments and myths - the Australian War Memorial

With regard to the flowers placed against names on the Roll of Honor on the day of the entombment of the Unknown Australian Soldier in 1993, the Memorial had intentionally promoted an idea that visitors to the Tomb might like to `lay a single flower' on the Tomb during their visit, and posters, panels and flyers were distributed across Australia in the weeks prior to the entombment. The Memorial was encouraging visitors to feel that they did not need to place elaborate wreaths or tributes at the Tomb. The Soldier could be honored by a simple gesture in which all Australians could take part - the laying of a single flower of remembrance. As it happened on the day, visitors also placed flowers against names on the Roll of Honor, in a quite spontaneous gesture of remembrance and honor. There was some precedent for the gesture, as it was done at the Roll of Honor at the Memorial on the day of the unveiling of the Vietnam Memorial on ANZAC Parade in 1992. But the Memorial had not expected it to be taken up so enthusiastically again on the day of the entombment. It may be true that individual members of staff at first expressed concern about the possibility of the wire stems of artificial poppies marking the bronze plaques that make up the Roll. But there was not then, and never has been, any official policy to prevent visitors from placing poppies and other flowers on the Roll. On the contrary, the Memorial was surprised, delighted and much moved at the manner in which individual visitors created their own gesture of commemoration, and indeed, many members of staff preserve this in their minds as the most poignant aspect of the entombment day. Among other recent commemorative gestures emerging from the entombment have been the reading aloud of names from the Roll of Honor by schoolchildren, and the weekly laying of wreaths at the Tomb by school children.

The Memorial has worked hard to create a powerful commemorative experience and abiding feature of Australia's national heritage. Approximately one million visitors annually are witness to the success of this effort and we are pleased with the ways Australians have mad it their own.

*Rosemary and Wattle* offers a detailed discussion of the symbolism in the Memorial's commemorative area, and copies are available by phoning the Bookshop on +61 6 243 4274.

Assistant Director, Public Programs Australian War Memorial

_Gargoyles

My suggestion was that the two gargoyle heads were perhaps embarrassing to the AWM, especially given the failure of the AWM to offer any presentation or commemoration of the war between settlers and Aborigines. Indeed, I suggested the AWM was intentionally allowing creepers to hide the two heads and that it was policy not to draw attention to the heads.

The Assistant Director, Public Programs responded (Wed, 9 Oct 1996) on the H-ANZAU list:

He (Robin McLachlan) refers to the two gargoyles representing the heads of an Aboriginal man and woman within the commemorative courtyard. These gargoyles are in two rows overlooking the Pool of Reflection; the others feature various Australian birds and animals. As the last in the rows the Aboriginal gargoyles happen to be closest to the foliage above the far end of the pool, and at times, when the plantings in the commemorative areas require maintenance, the foliage is in need of clipping back. They are not at all obscured by foliage at the moment, and the Memorial has no desire to deflect public attention from them. In the booklet on the commemorative area available to visitors, *Rosemary and Wattle*, it is remarked that the gargoyles seek to link us to a past of great antiquity, that of the land itself. This is expressed through the images of the people and animals who occupied it long before the coming of Europeans.