The Design Process
City of MelvilleIn 2013, the City of Melville and the Applecross RSL began discussing the development of a new war memorial for the local community. It would be both a site for ceremonies and a landmark commemorating those who have served in the Australian Defence Force.
The design process began with a callout for artists interested in designing a contemporary public art memorial at Wireless Hill Park. From these initial expressions of interest, the City of Melville selection panel created a shortlist of three artists and design teams.
The panel then asked all shortlisted applicants to create two design concepts each. In the process of developing these designs, the artists and designers ran workshops with art students from City of Melville high schools and representatives from Applecross RSL.
Among other criteria, each design concept was required to be respectful of its symbolic purpose as a war memorial while remaining sensitive to the surrounding natural landscape and heritage environment. Wireless Hill Park holds significance as an Aboriginal site and in the 20th century played a strategic role in both World War I and II as a ‘ship to shore’ communication centre controlled by the Royal Australian Navy.
When all concepts were submitted, City of Melville high school students from Year 7-12 were asked to vote to select the final memorial design. Student representatives from ‘Civics & Citizenship’ and ‘Politics & Law’ classes were recruited to act as the polling officials. After 5,136 ballot papers from participating schools were counted, Arterial Design was awarded the commission for their selected design ‘The People’.
‘The People’ aims to encourage reflection on the fact that ‘the people who serve to defend Australia are and were everyday people, ordinary men and women like you and me doing extraordinary things in extraordinary situations’.
The new Wireless Hill War Memorial was launched in April 2016 and the centenary of the first ANZAC commemoration service was held on 25 April 1916.
