Memorial Drive reflection walk
The Memorial Drive Reflection Walk is a community art and storytelling project that honours past and present service men and women and celebrates the ANZAC spirit.
Take a self-guided walk along Memorial Drive to explore local history, artwork and stories of services.
Download the Memorial Drive Reflection Walk map (243KB)
There are eight stobie poles created by Tea Tree Gully Primary School students that depict the ANZAC story. You’ll also find six interpretive signs with further information about the project and history of the surrounding area.
Special thanks to artist John Whitney and SANE Makerspace.
After World War II, the Tea Tree Gully community wanted to honour local people who served and gave their lives. A total of 254 men and 20 women from the district fought for their country - 11 did not return.
Following a community submission to council in 1949, the War Memorial Archway and Drive were officially opened in 1950 by South Australian Premier The Hon. Thomas Playford.
The reflection walk builds on this legacy by etching the shadow of the 1950 archway into the road pavement at the southern end of Memorial Drive.
The words on the original archway “Tea Tree Gully Memorial – Lest We Forget” have also been sandblasted into the pavement.
The Returned and Services League (RSL Australia) was formed in 1916 to support current and former defence force members.
The Tea Tree Gully RSL Sub-Branch opened in 1937 near the Tea Tree Gully Hotel., moving to its current location on Memorial Drive in 1964. It continues to provide support and friendship for veterans.
As part of the reflection walk, three large steel letters spelling “RSL” were installed outside the building to create a visual link between the memorial garden and RSL.
About the student artists
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My artwork is of a soldier playing the 'Last Post' on his bugle. The colours I used are when the sun is going down for the day and it is about the time to stop in silence and remember.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I thoroughly enjoyed doing this artwork because we got to be independent with our design, but help was always there if we needed it. I enjoyed learning to to blend the colours together to create the sunset.
What did you learn whilst participating on this project? I learnt so much about the armament used in WWI by the brave ANZACs.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My design is telling a story of an Airbourne trooper who is parachuting out of a military aircraft into the dangerous battlefield. It has lots of grey gloomy colours to show a moody skyscape with black lines in the distance to represent landmines blowing up. It is meant to show how dangerous it would have been for the soldiers to land onto the battlefield from the air.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I enjoyed painting the wooden panels and having Carly, John and Ms M help me with the designs and trying new techniques. It was a good experience.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My design is about representing the brave animals that served in the war, so many animals also lost their lives during this time.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I have enjoyed learning about how different colours can have different effects on people’s emotions. I tried new painting techniques too and enjoyed the opportunity to be apart of the project.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My design is about a soldier helping out another wounded solider and they are moving through the trenches to find a medic.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I really enjoyed doing lots of research and finding out facts. I liked painting the artwork too and using different techniques.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My artwork is about a soldier who is looking down to the ground as a way to pay respect to fallen service men and women. In the background, it is about the sun rising in the dawn and I have used colours like yellow, orange and red.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I really loved the chance to paint at Gallery 1855 and the opportunity to be creative. It allowed me time to think about the soldiers and how they might have felt during the war and how sad it would be to lose so many mates.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My artwork represents the nurses who served and provided essential medical assistance to the soldiers. My design has grey tones that blend into light pinks and purples to show that nurses are a symbol of hope and that females in the war were heroes too.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I learnt a lot about the history of the war through school and the workshop at Tea Tree Gully RSL. This information helped to inspire me when it was time to do our artwork.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My design is based upon those who served in the navy. I chose to use light, dark tones. My design features a sailor looking out to sea and saluting as a sign of respect.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I really liked doing the artwork and seeing how much effort everyone was putting into it and there was an important reason for why we were making them. I like that I get to tell others about this story so they can learn more.
Age: 11
Tell us about your design? My design is to represent the sunrise with the wording ‘Lest We Forget’.
What have you enjoyed the most about working on this? I enjoyed being taught about how to blend colours with John, the artist. I really also enjoyed talking about art with Carly and found the information from Michael at RSL and Carole from the Historical Society really interesting to listen to. I learn a lot.
