Photo taken on Oct. 5, 2018 shows hand-crafted poppies in the garden of Australian Wall Memorial, in Canberra, Australia. A total of 62,000 hand-crafted poppies were installed in the garden of Australian Wall Memorial (AWM), in memory of 62,000 Australian soldiers, who died in World War I that ended 100 years ago. (Xinhua/Bai Xu)
CANBERRA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- A total of 62,000 hand-crafted poppies were installed in the garden of Australian Wall Memorial (AWM), in memory of 62,000 Australians, who died in World War I that ended 100 years ago.
"The 62,000 hand-crafted poppies that now sweep across the grounds of this sacred place are woven repositories of love and ennobled memory," said Brendan Nelson, director of AWM, on Friday. "Every one of these poppies represents each of the 62,000 young Australians who ... paid for our happiness, and our freedom to be happy, with their lives."
The poppies were woven by volunteers who sent them to AWM from all over the world. Nearly a million were received.
"Every single one is different from the next one," Nelson said. "Some people put an image of their grand uncle in the center, or a button retrieved from a tunic." Some poppies had yellow color to represent the Aboriginal while the purple ones were to remind people of the animals killed in the war.
Lynne Berry, a fiber and textile artist and co-founder of the project, said that she had the idea about six years ago with her sister-in-law. Both of their fathers were veterans. "We decided to do a tribute to their service," she told Xinhua. "I like knitting and many people could do that. It was an easy way to do."
Then more people came to help and the idea grew into a huge project. Among the volunteers is Jacinta Dale, who made 30 poppies for AWM. "Three of my grand uncles fought in the war. Only one came back," she said.
The year 2018 marks the centenary of armistice that ended World War I. Between 1914 and 1918, close to 330,000 Australians were sent to fight in the modern industrialized war, among whom 62,000 lay dead among the blood, mud, and destruction of the trenches in Europe, and the sands of the Palestine and North Africa.
A creative public program at AWM will combine public activities, displays, installations, and events for five weeks, starting on Friday and concluding on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2018.
The poppy display in the Flanders Memorial Gardens opens to visitors on Friday. Flanders is the name of a World War I battlefield. The famous war poem, In Flanders Fields by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, writes "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row..." It was generally believed that the poem inspired people later to wear red poppy to honor the soldiers who died in the war.
After the display, some poppies will be kept by the memorial after the display, while the rest will be sold. The money will be used as fund for the veterans and their families.
