Andrew Tomkin
Dawn Service, Martin Place
Aerosol, oil, pastel on polyester film
97 x 122cm
This work captures first light as the rising sun shines over the dawn service Martin Place .
With the return of service personnel from the first Great War, families who held onto hope that their missing loved ones would still return were left distraught, with little to hang onto.
Those who did not return were interred in foreign soil .
Governments of the time understood the need for places where loved ones could grieve their loss.
A single woman laid flowers at this site in 1927 .
The first official ceremony here occurred in 1928 .
We might all be well served to recognise that Cenotaphs and Memorials do not glorify conflict but help us to remember those who were given little choice.
