Strathewen Bushfire memorial

After the ‘Back Saturday’ fires in 2009, the community of Strathewen wanted to honour the memories of the people who died and all that they had lost and gained in the bushfire. The community, local government and the Red Cross worked together to create a place where people could come ‘to remember and reflect’.  Arterial  Design were commissioned to support the development and render the final design. The process took many years. They wanted to understand what the losses were and how best to represent them. Individual stories from community members were sourced to create a collective voice.

Water became a central image in the design. A simple concept of four teardrops falling onto the landscape provided the physical form, from which the community of Strathewen could begin to overlay their story of the event. Each circle carries its own theme of beauty, loss, rebuilding, hope and rejuvenation.  The Japanese style of Haiku poetry was referenced,  with minimal words and no punctuation, to focus on the essence of their experience.