While the intimate nature of the graves of Weeroona suggest a very personal relationship with death, the environment itself offers a kind of serenity. Serenity is not possible with this little memorial. One encounters this memento mori, face to face. The visceral nature of the distress is unavoidable, breathtaking even. Domestic items, socks, footy jumper, fairy lights, the childish messages on the nearby wall, all … Continue reading Memorials in the West: 5. Roadside Death – 15 Year Old Driving an Unregistered Car »

When Mitchell gazed out over the land from Mount Macedon, he was not gazing out over vacant space. It was not terra nullius but a land fully occupied by a culture, the absence of which in the national narrative, is now acutely obvious. While we build monuments of European glorification, there are no moments to warriors of the frontier wars. Our national amnesia extends to … Continue reading Memorials in the West: 4. Weeroona Aboriginal Cemetery »

Contrasted against the dry Western plains, Mount Macedon is wonderfully damp, all misty forests, moss covered trees and panoramic views. The panorama from Major Mitchell’s lookout (after surveyor general Major Thomas Mitchell) is spectacular, a glorious sweep of the plains below, the remains of volcanic caldera dotting the horizon and yes, in the distance Port Phillip Bay. Mitchell must have been reading the classics at … Continue reading Memorials in the West: 3. The Great Cross »

If the West Gate Bridge memorial seems to suffer from a desire to downplay the significance of industrial deaths, the “Vietnamese War” memorial in Sunshine is testament to an Orwellian desire to re-write history completely. It is difficult to know where to begin. Trends in memorials to war dead have altered significantly over the decades. Increasingly, war memorials have moved away from triumphalism; glorifying statues … Continue reading Memorials in the West: 2. Walking in Sunshine »

I am old enough to remember the day the West Gate fell. Unlike the saccharine sorrow of today’s celebrity culture extracting tears for every trivial demise or faux grief for the anonymous victims of salacious crimes, the deaths of the thirty-five who died when the span fell were genuine tragedies. They went to work and were killed by the hubris of men who thought they … Continue reading Memorials in the West: 1. The Day the West Gate Fell »