Circling into sleep

This memorial recognises the service of military working dogs alongside Australia’s defence forces since the First World War. When Australian servicemen and servicewomen have gone to war they have often been accompanied by man’s best friend. Some were smuggled aboard troopships by enterprising Australian troops as unit companions and mascots, others were unofficial unit members adopted in such places as France, Syria and Korea. Dogs have also been specially trained for service as draught animals, messengers, mine hunters and mercy dogs. Wherever they have served their presence has raised the morale of troops.

The remains of Aussie, Military Working Dog 426, were interred on 4 December 2019. As a Military Working Dog, Aussie served in different Australian operations: during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, as part of RAMSI in Solomon Islands in 2004, and on four deployments to Afghanistan with the Explosives Detection Dog Team. Aussie was 16 years old when he died in 2017. It was dedicated on 24 February 2020 by Mark Donaldson VC.

This is the dog’s memorial. It is low to the ground and humble. A paw print track circles into the centre of the memorial where the ashes of Aussie are interred. The paw prints were made by another Detection Dog called Billie and her handler Corporal Shane Kerswell, who trained Billie to walk in a tight circle on a bed of soft clay so that we could make her paw prints in bronze.

In the centre of the memorial is a tear shaped stone. It is an off-cut piece of stone from the plinth of the 'Animals in War memorial'. The tear stone and the paw prints symbolise the sadness and resolution of a dog’s life passing. Visitors to the memorial are encouraged to walk on the bronze paw prints. Over time as the metal becomes polished, it will serve as a record of people walking in the steps of a Military Working Dog, on their path, circling into sleep.