Aboriginal (male)

This architectural ‘boss’ or carved stone figure depicts the face of an Aboriginal man. Along with its female counterpart, it is situated in the Commemorative Courtyard of the Australian War Memorial. In 1940-41, Mr. W. Swan, stonemason, originally carved this piece as a gargoyle, based on a plaster model created by sculptor William Leslie Bowles. Research to date has not been able to establish if the image was based on any particular individual, however, the physical features portrayed in this model are characteristic of western desert Aboriginal men. Bowles was concerned with accurately representing all states in his choice of sculpted images so it is not surprising that he sourced images of Aboriginal men from this area.

In 2016, refurbishment of the Commemorative Area was undertaken to restore all gargoyles from Bowles’ original commission. The Memorial undertook national consultation regarding the process with Memorial staff, heritage practitioners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders in the local community and current and former serving Indigenous Defence personnel, the decision was made to re-carve the Aboriginal figures in their original likeness whilst removing their functionality as gargoyles. This decision was made to be more respectful regarding their depiction and their inclusion in the redevelopment preserved the Memorial’s original heritage design.