National Memorial to the Australian Vietnam Forces ::

Project Description::

Designed in collaboration with leading Australian sculpture Ken Unsworth AM, the National Memorial to the Australian Vietnam Forces on Anzac parade, was completed in October 1992, following an Australia-wide competition.

Dedicate to “all those who served, suffered and died”, the Vietnam Memorial resolves the occasionally conflicting needs of public interpretation of this contentious war on the one hand, and the more private commemoration of the war veterans on the other.

The memorial incorporates text, representational artwork and sculpture in an organic unified whole. A surrounding moat of water defines the solemn contemplative centre; this domed ’island’, linked to Anzac Parade by a broad ramp, is the focus of the rotated triangular composition.

The ring of granite stones suspended between the three 9m high concrete ‘stelae’ contains a roll of names of those killed in the war, and symbolises the journey from earth to heaven. The focus of the memorial is a 1967 photograph of Australian servicemen at Phouc Tuy in Vietnam, sandblasted into 200 triangular polished granite slabs, each a different size. A second stele wall shos a selection of contemporary quotations, spelled out in stainless steel letters set into the concrete. The third wall, behind the focal monolithic granite ‘altar’ is blank.

Constructed of high-quality off-form concrete, black granite and stainless steel, the project required sophisticated 3D modelling for the detailing of its complex curved surfaces.