Few home or building renovations ever proceed smoothly or fuss-free. A case in point is the Australian War Memorial's decision to remove 26 sandstone gargoyles adorning the courtyard. The intent of the "heritage and restoration work" (outlined in a public tender posted) is to remove the gargoyles, clean away the remnants of sealant containing asbestos, then rebuild and replace 24 of them. The fate of the final two, it has emerged, will rest on the outcome of further discussions and consultations. The reason for the hedging over the last two features? They depict the faces of Aborigines – and in the style of gargoyles everywhere, the depictions verge on the grotesque. The rest of the gargoyles, all of them the work of sculptor William Leslie Bowles, depict various Australian fauna.
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There is a prospect that the two sandstone carvings are quietly packed away in the memorial's vast art collection, or they could be put on display inside. They are certainly controversial, and have been condemned by writers, commentators and by Aboriginal people themselves as racist, offensive, and an inappropriate reminder of a long and occasionally bloody oppression by Europeans. Many of these critics would like to see them disappear from sight. Not everyone, however, is of that view. Peter Stanley, a former principal historian at the War Memorial, has publicly deplored any attempt to remove the gargoyles, arguing that they are important to the building and reflect the attitudes and values of those people who created it. "They are racist, but are also integral to the fabric of the building as it was conceived, reflecting the attitudes and values of the Australia that created the memorial. We cannot deny and should not hide what Australia was, however unpleasant."
Even among indigenous Australians, the view about the gargoyles is not uniform. Writing in The Canberra Times on Friday, Gary Oakley, a curator at the memorial and national president of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Veterans and Services Association, argues "the gargoyles have never had any racist intent, and they reflect the artistic trend of the time".
In the late 1930s, when the War Memorial was being planned and built, Australia was not a country with official policies of segregation and oppression, but the general attitude towards Aborigines was frequently condescending and paternalistic. Bowles's inclusion of them in his depictions of "Australian fauna" is indicative of that. Aborigines did not become Australian citizens until 1949, and it was not until the 1960s that they were constitutionally enfranchised. This period of Australian social history is well chronicled, but now little discussed in public. The argument that the most potent symbols of prejudice and indifference from that time should be kept as public aide-memoire has validity, though of course this has to be weighed against the sensitivities of those who feel they continue to defame and caricature.
That the War Memorial wants to canvass the views of indigenous Australians as to the final fate of the two gargoyles is commendable. It is also ironic given the institution's refusal to debate whether or not the frontier wars – the collective title given to the series of conflicts between Aborigines and Europeans stretching from 1788 until 1928 – should be officially recognised and commemorated. It is argued the AWM Act allows no possibility of acknowledging the frontier wars because no military forces were involved and there was no formal declaration of war. It is also argued that the institution's primary mission is to commemorate Australian forces officially deployed overseas in war and peace. Yet, it is now generally acknowledged that the violence visited on Aborigines over 140 years, and which frequently erupted into localised warfare, did involve official proclamations from colonial administrators and regular military regiments, as well as, of course, paramilitary units and armed settlers. Some 20,000 indigenous Australians are believed to have died in the frontier wars. As an influence on the way Australia developed and evolved, it is every bit as significant as better recognised military conflicts.
The War Memorial commemorates Indigenous Australians involved in conflicts from the Boer War onwards through its collections. Close by, on Mount Ainslie, is the Aboriginal Memorial, where a service is held after the Anzac Day dawn service each year. There are some who would like to see more done by the memorial to recognise Aboriginal contributions to the overseas war efforts. Certainly the absence of recognition of the frontier wars from the memorial's remit remains troubling and, like the gargoyle episode, it merits wider discussion.
