Indigenous male head boss

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, carved the original to this piece as a gargoyle from a plaster model created by sculptor William Leslie Bowles (see ART93066). Unfortunately, the drainage points in the original series of carved stone figures did not function properly, and leaking meant the sandstone saturated. This, along with exposure to the weather, resulted in deterioration of the stone, which cracked and broke away. The condition of the gargoyles and surrounding stone work was closely monitored from 1990, and in 2014 it was decided that replacement pieces were necessary. The original sculptures were removed from the Commemorative Courtyard and the new pieces were installed as replacements.

Before beginning the reconstruction project, 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.

Research for the Memorial in 2016 could not 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.

Once the new carved figures were installed in the Commemorative Area, a smoking ceremony was held on 29 March 2017 to welcome them into the space.