ACT Bushfire Memorial, 2005-6, Stromlo Forest Park, Weston, Canberra, ACT. On 18 January 2003 a massive firestorm swept into Canberra. Four people lost their lives, countless pets and wildlife perished, widespread damage was caused to parks, forests and gardens, and a total of seven hundred buildings, including homes, rural properties and institutional buildings were destroyed. In November 2004, the ACT Government prepared a report with the fire-affected community to see if they wanted a ‘memorial’ and if so, what form it would take. There was overwhelming support for a memorial but a clear message resounded from the community that the work should not be a ‘bronze statue plonked into a paddock’ but a quiet peaceful place for reflection and memory with an emphasis on nature and the healing sound of water. Tess Horwitz, Tony Steel and Martyn Jolly were successful in being selected to design the memorial. Tess Horwitz and Tony Steel designed a journey from painful memory and the reality of the day of the fire through to recognition of the strength of community and shared experience and on to a very gradual sense of healing and regeneration. There is a circuit that starts with memorial walls made of actual bricks from destroyed buildings and inscribed pavers from the community, curved to create warm private enclosures for sorrow and reflection. (These brick walls were a recipient of the Master Builders Construction Award for Commercial Best Use of Brick.) After the walls is a whispering grove of Casuarina trees, with rearing metal forms symbolising the wave of fire that swept into Canberra. A long formal avenue of trees form an axis with Mt Ainslie, leading to a large circular amphitheatre with a bubbling pond at its centre. Glowing glass columns enclose photographic images, contributed from the community and curated by Martyn Jolly, juxtaposed to speak of memory and human resilience. The return path accompanies a meandering watercourse on the journey back. The memorial site was designed to capture water and divert it into the watercourse and tank, and swamps were created to filter the water. In the design concept, the earth shaping and the plantings were just as important as the artworks as a means of creating emotional responses in the viewers. Here was a rare opportunity to maximise designing artworks and environment holistically, and in as environmentally sustainable way as possible. The controversy surrounding the Government’s response to the Bushfire and the ensuing enquiry created a minefield of sensitivities and the artists had to work carefully within this context throughout the project. Community sessions enabled the artists to meet fire-affected people and collect their messages for engraving on pavers and photographs for the glass columns. These sessions were an emotional mix of heartfelt generosity by those affected and traumatic stories of a horrific event. The official opening on the third anniversary of the Bushfire, 18th January 2006 by Chief Minister and Minister for Arts, Jon Stanhope MLA and other speakers was boycotted by some sectors of the community. A month later there was a second opening for those boycotters who placed their own plaque on the site. The Memorial has continued to operate as a place of catharsis, of renewed painful memories, but also of release and a sharing of feelings with others, in a site that reflects community wishes, and with artworks that contain diverse voices. Horwitz, Steel and Jolly received a Canberra Critics Circle Award, Special Critics’ Award for the ACT Bushfire Memorial in 2007.
Materials: bricks, pavers, steel, coloured glass, waterworks, landscaping
Photo Credits: Martyn Jolly, Steven Murray, Shayne Breynard, Tess Horwitz
