Artists Concept

Shire of Upper Gascoyne Anzac Memorial:                3rd January 2018

Artists Concept and description:

This concept design is based directly on the history of Anzac in the Shire of Upper Gascoyne. The men who left from here and signed up for service in World War I,
did not necessarily come from the Gascoyne, but generally from all parts of Australia. However, it was from here that they emanated, to enlist for The Great War. Most of them were stockmen and had come to this region to work, in the years prior to the War. It was however for them, a’ home from home’ and the last place they inhabited and dwelled in, and from where many of their memories would be sourced during those terrible years of battle overseas, far from the land they defended.

Their lives as stockmen and ’ringers’ would have produced strong physical prowess and they would have been valued for these qualities and all the other aspects of their characters that would have led them to work on such a challenging environment in the Gascoyne. They were fit, strong but most of all, of stalwart character, prepared to go forward for any eventuality required.

This is what we have tried to express in this design concept. The Map of the Shire itself is the springboard from which they leapt,’ into the fray’, as it were, already primed and ready; highly skilled horsemen who went on to become living legends.

Charles Smith & Joan Walsh-Smith