handmade woollen poppie

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/in-a-fi... from ........ www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/in-a-fi... The one-off exhibition at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which opened to the public yesterday, memorialises a bloody conflict that left a nation, then numbering five million, scarred for generations. Set-up to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice, the project to knit thousands of woollen poppies was driven by the dedication of more than 50,000 Australians who contributed to the display, remembering Australian servicemen and women who died in battles at Gallipoli, North Africa, Palestine and on the Western Front in Europe. The Honour Their Spirit program will be at the AWM until November 11 — 100 years to the day when the Allies and Germany agreed to put down their guns. AWM director Brendan Nelson said the handcrafted poppies, which “sweep across the grounds” of the war memorial, formed part of a series of tributes planned in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. “No event so deeply wounded, divided, scarred and changed Australia as the First World War,” Dr Nelson said. “Every one of these poppies is a repository of love and an -ennobled memory. “Every single one is different from the next one and some of them are very emotional — -people have actually put an image, a great uncle, in the centre, or a button retrieved from a tunic, a memento of love from someone who was and is loved. “Every Australian should ask him or herself: do I continue to be worthy of these sacrifices?” Dr Nelson, a former defence minister and Liberal Party leader, said the poppies were crafted by an “army” of people in Australia and “throughout the world”. “A chapter (of the 5000 Poppies Project) here in the ACT has lovingly and painstakingly placed every single one of them on a stick in a green knitted sleeve,” he said. “The most significant things that are done in this country are done by people out of love, for no payment other than the reward of giving us a greater sense of what it means to be Australian, and a greater belief in ourselves.” Victorians Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight founded the 5000 Poppies Project in 2012, with the ambition of displaying 5000 poppies in Melbourne’s Federation Square on Anzac Day in 2015. When word spread, they began receiving knitted poppies in the mail, often with letters from Australians detailing tributes to their loved ones who had died in battle. Following media coverage of the 5000 Poppies Project, more poppies began arriving, culminating in 250,000 knitted poppies being displayed at Federation Square on Anzac Day 2015. The pair has now taken their project global, with handwoven poppies being laid outside the Chelsea Hospital in London for a commemoration ceremony involving the Queen. Architect Philip Johnson, who designed the AWM poppies display, revealed that his own great-great-grandfather died in the final days of World War I. “What an appropriate place to honour and respect my great-great-grandfather, to be here to design this incredible personal tribute at the Australian War Memorial,” Mr Johnson said. “This tribute speaks to the 62,000 Australians who never returned, this tribute speaks to their families, this tribute speaks to our nation.” DSC06391