We Will Remember Them
This quilt is my tribute to the brave soldiers who have fought to protect our country in the many wars in which Australians have been involved. New Zealand is included for the ANZAC’s. I am grateful to them all for their bravery and courage and will never take for granted what they have done and continue to do.
The lower section of the quilt is as follows:
·
The centre
depicts Australia and New Zealand sitting in a safe, ordered, and happy
aspect surrounded by sea – the gold peeper border.
Our country is protected from those outside, over the oceans, (the second
gold peeper border) by our forces, represented by the diamonds.
However, throughout our history, leaders in other countries – the black
squares – representing unknown faces and unfamiliar places, have called our
soldiers to fight, either wars started by them or to join Allied Forces.
Our soldiers have always heeded the call – the black and white strips
represent our soldiers, lined up in rows. The Diggers wear the Rising Sun
Badge and the slouch hat with pride.
The black and white triangle border represents the weapons of war.
The next border represents the chaos, destruction and shattering effect that
war has on the lives of the soldiers, their families and countries. This
border contains the names of many of the wars in which Australia has been
involved, as well as prisoner of war camps. Named also, is the Menin Gate,
at Ypres, in Belgium, which is a tribute to those who served and fell, and
whose identities remain unknown.
The outer border contains crosses that mark the places of so many who gave
the ultimate sacrifice.
The upper section of the quilt represents the tearing apart of all that was,
before war – lives, families, homes and countries.
The poppies are in remembrance of the soldiers who gave so much for our
freedom and I thank them. The budding poppies signify new life and hope for
the future. The sky and hills are for the constancy that the sun will surely
rise again tomorrow and we can live in freedom, finding peace and happiness
again because of the sacrifices made by our forces, and
we will remember them.
My inspiration for this quilt came from the John McCrae poem, “In Flanders Fields” written on 3rd May 1915.
