© irene waters 2018
I was really taken by this set of five granite etchings. They were strategically placed on the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk at Rhodes in Sydney. The track mimics (in a minimal way) the vegetation found in the Papua New Guinea Highlands and this is reflected off the granite. It may be lost in the detail of the etching but its very presence adds a realism that adds to the overall effect.
© irene waters 2018
© irene waters 2018
© irene waters 2018
© irene waters 2018
© irene waters 2018
Did you see something else lost in the detail?
In response to Paula’s prompt Lost in Details
About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Very dramatic art. Can you give more of the history?
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The kokoda trail was a campaign in WWII fought in Papua New Guinea between the Australians and Japanese between July and November of 1942. The length of the track was 96 kms ( a 4 – 12 day walk depending on fitness) and it has become a pilgrammage for Australians to walk it. Naturally not too many are fit enough and they have replicated it on the foreshore where the Concord repatriation hospital is sited. It has plantings to make it feel tropical and along the walk it tells you how far you would have walked in reality and a voice tells you what is happening along with sound effects. It has been done really well. The etchings represent the hardships and mateship the soldiers came across and the last one is the fuzzy wuzzy angels. These were Papuan locals who risked a lot to help our soldiers get to field hospitals and hide them from the Japanese. It was a loving name. Unfortunately we did not really repay the help they gave in our treatment of them later but we have now made reparations and given them the benefits any returned servicemen would get.
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Thank you for a wonderful explanation, Irene.
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You’re welcome Sharon.
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So interesting. thanks for the education
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You are more than welcome. It was very well done.
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How moving and powerful. The granite walls remind me of the traveling Vietnam War memorial in the US.
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I haven’t heard of that memorial Charli but this was certainly powerful and moving and the back drop reflected in it made you feel you were there.
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I think that is what happens with the Vietnam Memorial, too.
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So well shot, Irene! Thank you 🙂
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Thank you Paula.
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