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Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
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Our Story
My name is Gavin Ireland.
My journey to be involved in the project for the 60th anniversary of the battle for Fire Support Base Coral/Balmoral, started many years ago. I am a Primary School Teacher. Back in the late 1990’s I became involved with the Adopt-a-Veteran program, where war veterans were invited to speak at schools for Anzac Days and other occasions. This involved World War 2 veterans through to modern day service personnel.
While starting this program at a new school, my teaching partner at that time said her husband was a veteran and he could come and speak to the students. A friendship was then struck up and I was invited to draw a picture of FSB Coral from the air, for the raffle at the 2010 Coral reunion. Like the majority of Australians, I hadn’t heard of the battle for Fire Support Base Coral/Balmoral and I sat at that reunion listening to the stories being told around me.
My interest was sparked and I wanted to know more. It was a great privilege to be asked again to attend further reunions and supply artwork for their raffles. At the 2016 reunion, I was approached by Garry Prendergast and other committee members if I would be interested in painting a series of artworks for the 50th anniversary in 2018. I completed five large paintings which were displayed at the various functions and were signed by all the veterans attending. These now hang at the various units’ headquarters.
After the 50th, I felt I hadn’t completed the job. There were many more actions, including now a Victoria Cross, that were not covered and I believe the wider Australian public need to know about Coral/Balmoral, the largest battle Australians were involved in, in the Vietnam war.
In two years’ time, it is the 60th anniversary. I have proposed that FSB Coral/Balmoral be promoted to the Australian public by putting together an exhibition, to tell the story through artwork and personal accounts of the veterans who were there, in a way that is easy to understand for all ages. This exhibition will travel to the major centres of each state, including Parliament House Canberra and be promoted through the local media.
The main exhibition will be portraits of veterans in pairs or threes, the way they look now, with a scene showing an incident that happened to them while at Coral/Balmoral. On either side of the portrait painting will be the personal account of the incident by the veteran. So, the reader knows – What happened and how they felt at that moment. Under each reflection will be one or two photographs of the veteran as a young soldier in Vietnam.
The other Artwork will be paintings made up of painted panels (like a coloured comic strip) that tell the overall story of the different actions. Coral/Balmoral had many units represented there. From the dog handlers to the tanks and I would like to represent all of them in the exhibition.
As well as the physical exhibition, we would like to include a digital form that can be sent to every RSL and possibly schools throughout Australia.
As with all enterprises, there are many things that need to come together to make it a success. The first is funding. Each artwork will need to by professionally framed to museum quality so it will be preserved for the years to come. Materials to produce each art piece will need to be purchased. Travel expenses to interview veterans and have the artwork about each veteran, signed by the veteran, will need to be catered for.
The next part is the ability to move the complete exhibition to the different locations where it will be displayed. I understand this will be quite an undertaking. Pieces will need to be packed so they can be moved safely and arrive ready to be displayed. For this reason, special containers with racks will need to be used and acrylic will be used instead of glass in all artworks.
This exhibition will be an enormous undertaking, but it is important for the veterans of that conflict, with the numbers are thinning each year, that they are recognised for their contribution in the largest battle of the Vietnam War and that the Australian public is aware of this mostly unknown part of Australian history that happened 60 years ago.
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