Sacrifice

When I've visited the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney previously, it's either been outside its opening hours, or I haven't had my camera with me, or both. I've always wanted to take pictures of the interior, and today I had my "proper" camera with me and a day at leisure in Sydney.

What I really wanted to capture was the Sacrifice sculpture:

Designed by sculptor George Rayner Hoff the sculpture is based on the story of the Spartan warrior from ancient Greece. Spartan men were raised as warriors from boyhood and, when marching to war, were told to come home with their shield or on it - a warning to be victorious or die in the attempt. Rayner Hoff has created an image that depicts the weight of the dead young warrior carried on his shield by his mother, sister and wife nursing infant child. The sculpture Sacrifice uses the analogy of the Spartan warrior being returned to his loved ones dead on his shield to evoke the emotion experienced by the families of the young men who died in the Great War 1914-18.


It's a beautiful and incredibly moving piece of work. While I was photographing it, totally absorbed, I suddenly heard a voice at my ear and I jumped. This was Bill, an 80 year old former air commodore and one of the volunteers at the memorial. He told me all about the history of it, then we stood together for the Last Post and minute's silence at 11am.

I was torn between this shot and one showing Sacrifice in its setting in the Hall of Silence, which I've uploaded as an extra. There's also another version of the mono one, with alternative processing.