‘Australia Will Be There: Victorians in the First World War (1914-19)’, a touring exhibition from the Shrine of Remembrance, will be presented at Ararat Regional Art Gallery from September 4 to October 18.
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Through photographs and historical accounts the exhibition presents a chronology of the war with particular reference to the contribution of Victorians.
In addition, a few precious objects honouring the service of residents of Ararat, Cathcart and Lake Bolac have been loaned from the Langi Morgala Museum to add a local context to the exhibition.
‘Australia Will Be There’ will be launched on Friday 4 September at 10.30am with an introduction by Ararat Mayor Cr. Paul Hooper and opening remarks by Dean Lee, CEO, Shrine of Remembrance.
Prior to these formal proceedings, the exhibition’s co-curator, Katrina Nicolson will present an exhibition floor talk at 9.30am.
Morning tea will be provided and all community members are encourage to attend these free events.
To complement the presentation of ‘Australia Will Be There’, the gallery is presenting Ararat artist Geoff Todd’s exhibition, ‘Time Should Rescue Truth, While History Records’ until November 1.
The exhibition has its genesis in 1994 when Todd received a copy of the new edition of ‘They Dared Mightily’, a revised and condensed version of Lionel Wigmore’s classic volume of the same name.
The artist was intrigued by the preface to the new edition that contained, what he considered, startling lines: 'The official citations were deleted in favour of retaining the most accurate and up to date possible account of the actions for which the awards were won.'
Todd said, 'These deleted citations were written from eyewitness reports and illustrate on what basis the awards were given. They are actual words from the comrades of the Victoria Cross (VC) recipients and seem to have somehow become redundant. Why should new generations of Australians lose these words, written from statements by the recipients’ mates who saw it all and in some cases only survived because of the VC recipient’s heroic actions'.
In an effort to right what he saw as a wrong, Todd began making portraits of VC recipients - a small statement of support for these soldiers and their memory.
Seven of his portraits of VC recipients from the First World War are presented in this exhibition along with three works featuring the national flowers of countries where battles took place.
Anthony Camm
Director,
Ararat Regional Art Gallery