Sculpture

The goal when creating the walk was to capture and convey the remarkable spirit of the WAAAF and bring it to life. The start of the walk is marked by a large steel artwork that celebrates The Force that kept Austalia flying.

The idea behind the feature steel sculpture was to represent the way the WAAAF, through their many roles on the ground, supported the air force during the war. The women at the base of the sculture each contribute to the flight of the aircraft at the top of its flight path.

I wanted to represent the real diversity of these Airwomen and their work, so the Airwomen that form this sculpture, particularly their faces and uniforms, are based on photos of actual Airwomen in the WAAAF.

Stories about Tocumwal during the war always mention how planes were in the sky day and night. We wanted to evoke that feeling in this artwork by encouraging people to look up. One of the first things Airwomen were taught in their ‘rookies’ training was how to identify aircraft from their shape, so we wanted to somehow include a silhouette in the sky. The top of the sculpture features the sillhouette of a B-24 Liberator Bomber, the aircraft most commonly associated with Tocumwal.

Interpretive panels

The story of the WAAAF is told on panels along the walk. They feature photos that we have hand coloured to bring the story of the WAAAF to life today. The panels contain poetry, photographs and highlights of the history of the WAAAF.

There are not many photos of WAAAF doing their work, but we are lucky that several of those that do exist were taken here in Tocumwal. We’ve used those photos prominently along the walk.

Transparent panels along the walk are designed to create the illusion that the WAAAF still walk alongside us on the path.

Scope of work

The concept and design for the sculpture, signage and wayfinding was developed by Sivonne Creative, along with the research, copywriting, artwork and design for the interpretive panels. We also created the 3D technical drawings and renderings for engineering, steel manufacturing and installation.

The project was developed in collaboration with both Visattak and Riverina Allweld and was constructed locally in Deniliquin in 2021.

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