Slouch Hat with Rising Sun

Places
Accession Number ART94657
Collection type Art
Measurement 13.0 x 37.2 x 17.2cm
Object type Sculpture
Physical description lost wax bronze
Maker Gomboc, Ron
Date made 2006
Conflict Vietnam, 1962-1975
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

The sculpture is a cast of the artist, Ron Gomboc's Australian Army hat, his recruit training slouch hat. He served with the Royal Australian Engineers 1969-1971 and received a National Service Medal. He was stationed at the 22 Construction Field Squadron at Irwin Barracks, Karrakatta, Western Australia. He took part in a number of training exercises at Shoalwater Bay in Qld and at SME Casula in NSW. Gomboc , during his National Service, was alos part of the team that built Bindoon Army Camp and airstrip in Western Australia. It is a powerful and evocative symbol of Australian military tradition, as well as a personal statement, reflective of one man's National Service in Australia between 1969-71. Ratmir Marijan (Ron) Gomboc (1947-) arrived in Australia in 1960 from Slovenia, Yugoslavia and worked as a cabinet maker and builder between 1961-68 before joining the Australian Army in 1969. He subsequently studied art and sculpture at Midland Technical College, working under the Modernist artist, Guy Grey-Smith and at the Claremeont School of Art in Western Australia. Gomboc became a full-time sculptor in the 1980s and purchased a 4.5 hectare property in the Swan Valley where he built his own home, studio and gallery, the Gomboc Gallery Sculpture Park. In 1993 Gomboc was West Australian Citizen of the Year in the Arts, Culture ands Entertainment category.