Inspired by the inspired by the daily Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial the Wreath Laying video series looked at the role rhythmical pattern body movement (1) plays in communicating the essence of the Cult of Anzac (2) at various non-Anzac related memorials and/or sites.
The performance at each site was similar. A processional performance emphasising a seriousness and gravitas—slow rhythmical deliberate movements with the red poppy wreath carried before me. The red poppy was adopted as the UK emblem for war sacrifice in 1921.(3) Thus, the ceremonial object of a red poppy wreath has come to mean an acknowledgement of the sacrifice made in war in representing as well the blood of the British Commonwealth fallen.
The Canberra sites where this performance took place in order are;
- ACT Bushfire Memorial,
- National Worker Memorial’
- National Police Memorial
- Reconciliation Place, and
- Vacant memorial space on Anzac Parade (my designation Space A)
(1) Rhythmical pattern body movement: an act comprising a series of rhythmical physical actions of known meaning in a repeatable consistent order by one or more people possibly interacting
(2) K.S. Inglis, Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape (Melbourne University Press, 2008), 434.
(3) Royal British Legion, Remembrance, The Poppy, accessed 16 November 2018, https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/about-remembrance/the-poppy