The Gallipoli Centenary MuralPrint Page

Students and staff of Riverton & District High School in conjunction with the RSL, Riverton Sub-Branch have created a The Gallipoli Centenary Mural.  The mural is composed of elements of several different photographs collaged together, then enlarged and painted.

The two men on the left are from a picture of wounded men being loaded onto an ambulance in France.  One is a driver and one a wounded infantryman. They were chosen because their relaxed attitude is typically Australian ! Behind them is a ruined street scene in Ypres, on the Western Front.

The two men on horseback are Riverton members of the 23rd Light Horse, Privates O. S. Baker and G. W. Bailey whose team had just won the Lloyd Lindsay trophy conducted near Windy Hill, north east of Riverton.  Beneath them in yellow is the famous Rising Sun badge. 

It has had slight changes several times; this is the version worn by Australian soldiers in the First World War.

The three women at the top right are from a very moving photo taken in Sydney in 1919 and are waiting for the return of wounded men at the docks.  In the centre is Myra Harvey who would soon marry a returned serviceman.

The group of ladies at the bottom right are the 1914 - 1918 Tarlee Red Cross Society, from a photo in the Riverton History Centre, and the poppy is symbolic of our sacrifice in the First World War.

This mural will be attached to the street end wall (western wall) of the Art building at the High School and there is another mural in progress for the Riverton Primary School.  Those involved in the painting of the Mural were: - 

Students: Emily Kemble-Jones, Celeste Biddle, Jess Harrison, Niamh Glenie, Nikki Butler, Brooke Magro, Paige Allan, Erin Overton, Alice McKenzie, Annie Brock, Caius Bilney, Michaela Burns, Karri Thomas, Karen Palmer, Breanne Overton, Hayley Kernich, Kimberley Sellars, Luke Zacroczinsky, Casey O’Toole, Ruth Wright, William Noll and Louise Palmer.
[ Northern Argus, 6 May 2015 ]