‘Walking with Greta’
the life size bronze sculpture of Sister Greta Norman Towner AANS WWI (1891 - 1961)
In late 2022 I was so pleased to be awarded the commission to produce a life size bronze sculpture of Blackall’s Sister Greta Norman Towner, by the RSL Blackall Sub-branch. The commission was required to be completed and installed for unveiling by 10 November 2023 in time for Remembrance Day celebrations the next day. With only 3% of the public statues in Australia of women, the project received funding from the Queensland State Government in support of an Australia wide effort to rectify this huge imbalance.
The sculpture of Sister Greta was to become only the second statue of a woman who has served in war time in Australia. The first was that of Sister Vivian Bullwinkle which was unveiled at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in August 2023.
We first visited the site in Blackall Memorial Park in November 2022 to confirm the best location for the sculpture. With her brother Edgar’s sculpture already in Memorial Park larger than life and standing proud but perhaps with reservation on a sandstone plinth, my response to the site was to have Greta more ‘of the people’ standing on the ground, life size and accessible. I also felt strongly that it was important for the sculpture to have a voice, to speak to people and not be just another mute bronze memorial in a park.
Sister Greta Towner enlisted in the AANS (Australian Army Nursing Service) in July 1915, and arrived on Lemnos Island off the coast of Gallipoli in September the same year, aged just 24. It was evident from the project outset that photographic references of Greta from this time would be limited. Ultimately only 2 photographs were located that could provide suitable reference for the development of her sculpture of her at or around the time of her service. These are included above.
The first is her nursing graduation photograph from 1914, the second in post war in 1923. Both reveal her as tall, elegant even beautiful. From detailed measurement of her uniform we were able to determine her waist at 27 inches and with her rumoured height of over 6 feet she was certainly a tall and slender young woman with a natural elegance, strength and style.
The first task was to produce a quarter scale maquette or model of the proposed finish sculpture for Blackall Tambo Council executive approval and community review and comment.
The maquette was completed in clay and cast in cold cast bronze. It was presented to the Blackall Tambo Regional Council executive and the Blackall community in February 2023.
The process of historical sculpture really begins with research to understand Sr Greta’s physique and character and where possible some of her significant experiences. Finding the right gesture for the work is fundamental to me in my work. As humans so much of who we are is clearly expressed in the posture, attitude and expression of the body and not just the face. I will explain my decisions about this for the work when it is presented.
The maquette for Sr Greta was prepared at quarter scale and begins with an armature of aluminium wire 5mm in diameter. The core armature is assembled using accurate measurements taken from a live model who was the same height as Sr Greta.
The photographs below show the views created of the park using 3D CAD software, also presented to indicate the preferred position of the sculpture in the park. ‘Walking with Greta’ is placed on the smaller circular concrete foundation slab to the left of the central path to the cenotaph.
‘Walking with Greta’
“Come walk with me
Back to a time
Over a century ago.
And to a country
Far from here.
Back to a time
That may be painful
To remember,
But a time we
Must never forget!”
It is hoped that visitors to the park will do just that - walk with her to better understand and appreciate her life and service. The text above is cast into the bronze plaque on which she stands. Reading these words draws the visitor around her. The left hand is behind her in the manner of a mother or older sister asking the child to come walk with her. Her head turns towards her right in the direction of her brother Edgar, but not quite catching his gaze. They did not encounter each other during their service even though records indicate they could have been very near each other.
By adding a QR code to the base disk of the sculpture, we link the finished work to a designated page on the Blackall Tambo Tourism website here which details her extraordinary life in text and further images. It also tells the story of the making of this work. In this way ‘Walking with Greta’ acts as a portal to Blackall’s history.
It has been an honour to produce this work and I thank the Blackall RSL Sub Branch for the commission and their faith. I hope that the work ‘Walking with Greta’ is accepted and admired by the Blackall community and that she stands with dignity and purposeful grace in Memorial Park with her brother Edgar.
It is my hope also that Greta’s extraordinary life and service will, through this sculpture, serve as inspiration to current and especially future generations.
Lest We Forget.
The Unveiling
The sculpture, ‘Walking with Greta’ was officially unveiled by Her Excellency, the Governor of Queensland Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM on the 10th of November 2023, before representatives of the Towner family and the people of Blackall.
In his address at the ceremony Gregory MP Lachlan Millar said he'd seen a lot of statues but never one so beautiful.
"Blackall, you have proven you love what your history is about," he said. "Avril and the schoolchildren have created an opportunity for us to understand where we've come from."
The photographs below show the completed sculpture, ‘Walking with Greta’ as installed in Memorial Park Blackall.
The process from clay to bronze
Sculpture is all about process. It has been my experience that few people today are familiar with the process of creating bronze sculpture from a clay sculpt. I have previously blogged about it here: From Clay to Bronze. That blog explains it in simple terms. Below are some photographs to illustrate the process of sculpting, moulding, casting and finishing which produced Sister Greta Towner in bronze.
The welded steel armature. Measurements are taken from the live model and from Greta's uniform. The joints are flexible to allow subtle adjustment of the gesture.
Cardboard was used to create rough formwork to build up sections of body massing using liquid expanding foam. These were then carved to reduce the weigh of the clay sculpt.
Foam forms were carved and shaped by hand.
Sculptor's Plastelina was then added to build out the sculpt to the final form and add necessary details.
The maquette was used for checking dimensions and replicating Greta's gesture and extending this through the lines of her uniform.
An expandable aluminium mesh was used to model and support the complex forms of the veil.
All details were hand sculpted including the nursing badge at her collar.
What did these eyes see?
Capturing the gaze - purposeful, strong, resilient and more.
More details of the apron she wore over the nursing smock.
In order to move her by truck to the foundry in Brisbane, i inserted long bolts right through the sculpt to secure her in position. These needed touch up on arrival. And there is always a few little details you would like to finish up.
Greta was moulded using a blue silicone with an uncoloured fibreglass supporting jacket or 'mother mould'.
Thin waxes about 4 to 6mm thick were produced in sections from the silicone moulds.
She is to tall to cast in one piece so she is cast in sections. The green pieces are the wax components.
The wax components have sprues and pouring cups of wax added. The finished waxes are then dipped and covered in layers of ceramic refractory material.
Here is the left hand with sprues and pouring cup attached.
The ceramic shell are then heated to melt out the wax, fired to around 1000°C to create a rigind mould form for the molten silicon bronze to be poured in.
The bronze is 98% copper and 2% silicon and poured at around 1100°C into the empty ceramic moulds.
When cooled the ceramic shell mould can be chipped off. Here is the head.
This is the feet and the shoulder components.
The finished casts have the sprues and pouring cups removed and are then lightly sand blasted. The hole is to link the inside core of the mould to the outer mould shell.
Bronze must be cast hollow. Even the fingers. Here holes are left again to ensure the internal shell core is firmly fixed to the external shell. These holes are welded up in final assembly.
The bronze parts are then welded together and the welds finished to match the sculpted surface texture.
Here is the first time the almost complete sculpture was placed on the bronze plaque to check where bolt holes are to be located.
The completed sculpture is then patinated to create a durable surface finish. Since bronze is a very reactive alloy, this is essential to ensure the sculpture maintains a durable finish.
Patina is applied to the heated sculpture.
Here the face is being patinated. I selected a traditional Florentine Brown patina for Greta.
The bronze plaque was also patinated. The finished sculpture is then given a generous wax coating.
The bronze pour
This is the most exciting part of the sculpture process by far. My thanks to Phillip, Alex and Simon at Perides Art Projects in Brisbane for their excellent work in moulding, casting and assembling ‘Walking with Greta’.
My sincere thanks go to:
The Governor of Queensland Her Excellency Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM
RSL Blackall Sub Branch for this commission. In particular, President Terri-Ann Eden Jones & Secretary Terry Brennan
Avril Fazel for her extensive research, reference materials and hospitality
Vivienne Van Mosseveld for the website portal
Blackall Tambo Regional Council for the concrete foundation slab
The foundry team at Perides Art Foundry Brisbane
Craig & Emma Scholes for transporting Sister Greta from the foundry in Brisbane to Blackall
‘Spinksy’ (Scott Spinks) for the lifting of Sister Greta into place
Janice & my father John