National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

The memorial is dedicated to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, and was one of the recommendations of a Royal Commission. It is located next to the National Museum of Australia on Lake Burley Griffin, at the centre of Canberra. It is a permanent structure, to remain in perpetuity.

The scheme consists of a series of catenary arches made of glass blocks with a meandering path encircling a meadow of perennial grasses and wildflowers. Rather than an object-monument, the Memorial is designed as a landscape to move through as well as a composition to behold from afar.

Thematically, the design seeks to hold in balance an acknowledgement of strength and vitality on the one hand, and recognition of trauma and loss on the other. The individual pieces of cast glass carry immense loads yet together create forms of exceptional grace and lightness, representing both fragility and great resilience.

The memorial has four main components: a raised walking path, a series of glass catenary arches, a covered gathering place and a landscape centre. The walking path is an irregular landscape path which leads people around the site in a continuous loop, presenting a process and capturing the landscape centre of perennial grasses and wildflowers. Along the Walking Path are positioned tall luminous freestanding catenary arches made of cast blocks of solid recycled glass.

Visitors pass through the arches as they progress along the walking path. A circular gathering place for events and quiet reflection is accessed directly via the memorial entry as well as by informal pathways weaving through the landscape centre. The entry path aligns with the existing axis path to the National Museum. The canopy above the gathering place is made of threaded glass tubes which together form the shape of a shallow inverted dome, a counterpoint to the springing nature of the catenary arches.

The memorial signifies transparency and truth. It has no hidden chambers, walls or dark corners. It is entirely permeable and accessible; the landscape passes through it. With respect to First Nations principles, the memorial builds with and celebrates Country. One moves through and around the memorial, having one’s own experience, not standing still before a singular object in the manner of an institutional edifice. The underlying message is one of growth and progression, not stasis or a fixed state.