Avenue of RemembrancePrint Page

The World War One commemorative tapestry is based on a painting by internationally renowned Australian artist Imants Tillers and commemorates the centenary of ANZAC and those who served in World War One. 

The tapestry, titled Avenue of Remembrance, was commissioned in 2014 by the Memorial through the Australian Tapestry Workshop and made possible through a generous donation from the Geoff and Helen Handbury Foundation. It powerfully highlights the commitment and sacrifice of Australia’s servicemen and servicewomen over the last 100 years, as it does the poignancy of grief and loss.

Tillers was commissioned to produce a painting for the tapestry as a commemorative response to the centenary of World War One. The painting makes reference to the “Gallipoli letter”, an 8,000-word document written by Keith Murdoch to Prime Minister Andrew Fisher in 1915. This letter is one of the National Library of Australia’s treasures, and is widely believed to have helped influence the decision to bring the Gallipoli campaign to an end. In his artist’s statement, Tillers says he decided to eschew an exclusive focus on the tragic but nation defining event that was Gallipoli, and to instead make reference to the whole of Australia’s participation in World War One. “Thus the names of places where Australians were buried (rather than the actual theatres of war) are quoted as ready-made poetic elements in my design.

Familiar names such as ‘ANZAC Cove’, ‘Shrapnel Valley’, and ‘Lone Pine’, appear alongside other Middle Eastern locales: ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Gaza’, and ‘Beirut’.” 

The tapestry, which measures 3.3 by 2.8 metres, took more than 2,380 hours to complete and was woven by Master Weavers Sue Batten, Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Milena Paplinska, and Cheryl Thornton. It was formally completed in a traditional “cutting off” ceremony on 13 April before being relocated to its permanent home at the Australian War Memorial.

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