What began as a small personal tribute to honour two men who fought in the First World War has grown into a world-wide community, with Canberra playing a major role.
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In 2013, fibre artists Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight set out to crochet a humble 120 poppies to “plant” at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne for Remembrance Day in 2013, in honour of their fathers Wal Beasley (14/32nd Battalion – Australian Imperial Forces) and Stan Knight (Queen’s Own West Kent Regiment – British Army).
Now, five years later more than 300,000 poppies have been assembled, by more than 50,000 people, and installed at various locations around the world, from London, where a 2000 square metre field of poppies was planted at the Chelsea Flower show, to a touching commemoration in Fromelles, France.
Berry hoped the 5000 Poppies project would one day find its way to the Australian War Memorial and now it has.
From September 29 to October 5, more than 62,000 poppies will be “planted” across approximately 4000 square metres of the memorial’s gardens, a field of red flowing down from the Flanders’ Garden, swirling under the Lone Pine tree, and will be on display until November 11.
“Getting to the war memorial is perfect, it’s exactly where we should be,” Berry says, from Melbourne, where the project is based.
“There are two sides to this project, one is the memorial aspect, it started out with my dad and Margaret’s dad, but for all our service men and women, their families and their communities.
“This particular installation is about the losses in the First World War and it means a lot to a lot of people.
“The other aspect is about the community that has come together to keep this project running.
“On the individual level people feel so deeply about making a poppy for a memory … every single one of those people have contributed for their own reason.”
Canberra coordinator Ledy Rowe agrees. She’s had a team of up to 25 volunteers who have made close to 5000 poppies.
“You could ask them all why they do it and they'd all have a different answer,” Rowe says.
“Some have a personal connection, some love the handcraft, some are new to Canberra, some have been very ill and this has brought them out.
“The benefits of this program are more than the display.”
Symbolically representing the 62,000 Australian lives lost in the First World War, the display will be open daily from 9am to 10pm, from October 5 to November 11. It will be lit up by night and complemented by a moving musical program assembled by memorial artist in residence Chris Latham.
It is part of the larger Honour Their Spirit program marking the centenary of the Armistice.
