Peter Corlett

Last updated

Peter Corlett
Simpson and his Donkey statue in Canberra.jpg
Simpson and his donkey, 1915 by Peter Corlett
Born1944 (age 7879)
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Education RMIT University, Melbourne
Known forsculpture
Website www.petercorlett.com

Peter Corlett OAM (born 1944) is an Australian sculptor, known for his full-figure sculptures cast in bronze, especially his memorial works.

Contents

Corlett studied sculpture at RMIT University, Melbourne, from 1961 to 1964. In 1975, he was awarded a special projects grant from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council. Between 1977 and 1980, he was artist in residence at Exeter University and Exeter College of Art in the United Kingdom. [1]

Memorial works

In 1987, Corlett won a competition to create a memorial "to commemorate the courage and compassion" of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a stretcher bearer during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. [1] The result was a full size bronze sculpture, Simpson and his donkey, 1915, that now stands outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Cobbers is a full-size bronze sculpture created in 1998 for the Australian Memorial Park, near Fromelles in northern France. It depicts Sergeant Simon Fraser, a stretcher bearer with the 57th Battalion, rescuing a wounded compatriot from no man's land after the Battle of Fromelles (1916). The title comes from a letter that Fraser, a farmer from Byaduk, Victoria, wrote a few days after the battle and that was widely quoted in Australia's official history of World War I. [2] In it, Fraser describes how one wounded soldier shouted out "Don't forget me, cobber." as he was helping another: Fraser went to get more stretcher bearers and both wounded soldiers were rescued. [3] A replica of the sculpture is in the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. [4]

Corlett's other memorial works include: [1]

Other works

Corlett has also created several sculptures of famous people associated with his native Melbourne, such as John Farnham, Kylie Minogue and Dame Nellie Melba. Several of these can be seen at Waterfront City in the Melbourne Docklands. He also produced a bronze sculpture of a Kelpie for the Victorian town of Casterton.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nellie Melba</span> Australian opera singer

Dame Nellie Melba was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weary Dunlop</span> Australian military surgeon (1907–1993)

Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Simpson Kirkpatrick</span> Australian soldier (1892–1915)

John Kirkpatrick, commonly known as John Simpson, was a stretcher bearer with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance during the Gallipoli campaign – the Allied attempt to capture Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, during the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Whiteside McCay</span> Australian army officer and politician (1864–1930)

Lieutenant General Sir James Whiteside McCay,, who often spelt his surname M'Cay, was an Australian general and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Kenna</span> Australian soldier and Victoria Cross recipient

Edward Kenna, VC was an Australian soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Before his death, he was the last surviving Australian to have been awarded a Victoria Cross during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrine of Remembrance</span> War memorial in Melbourne, Australia

The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Birks</span> Recipient of the Victoria Cross

Frederick Birks, VC, MM was a Welsh-born Australian First World War soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attack at Fromelles</span> 1916 British attack in support of the Battle of the Somme, First World War

The Attack at Fromelles 19–20 July 1916, was a military operation on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack was carried out by British and Australian troops and was subsidiary to the Battle of the Somme. General Headquarters (GHQ) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had ordered the First Army and Second Army to prepare attacks to support the Fourth Army on the Somme, 50 mi (80 km) to the south, to exploit any weakening of the German defences opposite. The attack took place 9.9 mi (16 km) from Lille, between the Fauquissart–Trivelet road and Cordonnerie Farm, an area overlooked from Aubers Ridge to the south. The ground was low-lying and much of the defensive fortification by both sides consisted of building breastworks, rather than trenches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings Domain</span>

Kings Domain is an area of parklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It surrounds Government House Reserve, the home of the governors of Victoria, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and the Shrine Reserve incorporating the Shrine of Remembrance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunlop, Australian Capital Territory</span> Suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Dunlop is a suburb of the Belconnen district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Dunlop is at the far north-west edge of Canberra, near the border with the state of New South Wales. Approximately 11.6 kilometres (7.2 mi) north-west of the city, Dunlop is next to the suburbs of Fraser, Charnwood and Macgregor. At the edge and within Dunlop lies the Canberra Nature Park called Dunlop Grasslands Nature Reserve, West Belconnen Ponds, Jarramlee Pond and Fassifern Pond which are part of the Ginninderra Catchment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertram Mackennal</span> Australian sculptor and medallist

Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal, usually known as Bertram Mackennal, was an Australian sculptor and medallist, most famous for designing the coinage and stamps bearing the likeness of George V. He signed his work "BM".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">57th Battalion (Australia)</span> Military unit

The 57th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Formed in early 1916 for service during World War I, the battalion served on the Western Front until the end of the war, when it was disbanded. In 1921, it was re-raised as a part-time unit in Victoria, known as "The Merri Regiment". In 1930, the battalion was amalgamated with the 60th Battalion, to form the 57th/60th Battalion, which remained linked until it was disbanded in 1946, after having fought against the Japanese in New Guinea and Bougainville during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byaduk</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Byaduk is a township in the Shire of Southern Grampians in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. European settlement began around 1853 by Wendish or Sorbian Lutheran immigrants who gave it the name Neukirch after the town in Saxony.

The Third Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 6 March 1989 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. First Australian host Greedy Smith of Mental As Anything was assisted by presenters George Martin, Jono & Dano, Barry Bissell of Take 40 Australia, Peter Collins, Peter Jamieson, Jonathan King and Brian Smith to distribute 24 awards. There were no live performances and the awards were not televised.

The Australian Memorial Park is a World War I memorial, located near Fromelles, France, commemorating Australians killed during the Battle of Fromelles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Alexander Henderson</span>

Private Richard Alexander Henderson MM was a school-teacher who served with the New Zealand Medical Corps at the Battle of Gallipoli. Like John Simpson Kirkpatrick, he used a donkey to carry wounded soldiers from the battlefield. He was later honoured with a Military Medal for repeatedly rescuing wounded from the battlefield while under heavy fire at the Battle of the Somme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Leslie Bowles</span>

William Leslie Bowles was an Australian sculptor and medallist.

Sir Edward Hughes was an eminent Melbourne colorectal surgeon. He was a professor of surgery at Monash University and served as president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and chairman of the Menzies Foundation. He played a significant role in influencing the Victorian Government to become the first jurisdiction in the world to introduce legislation for the compulsory use of seat belts in motor vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game</span> Australian Rules football charity match

On Saturday 28 October 1916, the former Olympic champion swimmer and the later Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Lieutenant Frank Beaurepaire, organised an Australian Rules football match in aid of the British and the French Red Cross.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Artist Profiles: Peter Corlett, 1944–, Australian War Memorial, retrieved 31 January 2010.
  2. Bean, Charles (1929), "The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1916", The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (PDF), vol. III, Sydney, p. 441.
  3. "Don't forget me cobber – Sergeant Simon Fraser", Australians on the Western Front 1914–1918, Australian Department of Veteran's Affairs, archived from the original on 11 November 2009, retrieved 31 January 2010.
  4. McMullin, Ross (16 July 2008), "After 92 years, cobbers stand tall at the Shrine", The Age.
  5. "Private Edward Kenna V.C. | Monument Australia".