O God, we, who have served in The Royal Australian Regiment, Consecrate ourselves to you by giving ourselves, body and spirit to your service and to the service of our fellow man. Cleanse from us everything that could mar this service. Grant that we may live our lives that at all times we put our Duty First. Help us to think wisely, to speak rightly, to resolve bravely, to act kindly and to live purely. Give us the courage to defend the cause of justice, freedom, truth and the right to liberty.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer of the Royal Australian Regiment

Project designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer

Team ::
Peter Tonkin, Andrew Nimmo, James Grant, Byron Harford, Miriam Fitzpatrick. Artist: Ken Unsworth. Photos by Patrick Bingham-Hall
Awards ::
1990 First Prize and Commission 1993 Master Builders Association Merit Award 1993 Concrete Institute of Australia Merit Award 1993 RAIA Architects Merit Award for Outstanding Architecture
Project Description::
Designed in collaboration with leading Australian sculpture Ken Unsworth AM, the National Memorial to the Australian Vietnam Forces on Anzac parade, was completed in October 1992, following an Australia-wide competition.

Dedicated to "all those who served, suffered and died", the Vietnam Memorial resolves the occasionally conflicting needs of public interpretation of this contentious war on the one hand, and the more private commemoration of the war veterans on the other.

The memorial incorporates text, representational artwork and sculpture in an organic unified whole. A surrounding moat of water defines the solemn contemplative centre; this domed 'island', linked to Anzac Parade by a broad ramp, is the focus of the rotated triangular composition.

The ring of granite stones suspended between the three 9m high concrete 'stelae' contains a roll of names of those killed in the war, and symbolises the journey from earth to heaven. The focus of the memorial is a 1967 photograph of Australian servicemen at Phouc Tuy in Vietnam, sandblasted into 200 triangular polished granite slabs, each a different size. A second stele wall shows a selection of contemporary quotations, spelled out in stainless steel letters set into the concrete. The third wall, behind the focal monolithic granite 'altar' is blank.

Constructed of high-quality off-form concrete, black granite and stainless steel, the project required sophisticated 3D modelling for the detailing of its complex curved surfaces.