I have long been painting the Murray River and surrounding landscape, but it was my love of France that inspired me to dig into the specific story of Noreuil Park. My new exhibition, Noreuil, connects the stories of Albury’s Noreuil Park and the French village of Noreuil over a series of new paintings.

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It was meaningful to me that the Diggers chose the name of the park. Where other places named their WWI memorial parks Victory Park or similar, the local veterans chose to commemorate the battle at Noreuil in France. That interested me, that’s where this project began. 

What followed was two years of detailed field work, including travel to the village of Noreuil in Northern France.

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I was welcomed with open arms in Noreuil. There is still a sense of gratitude for the efforts of The Allied forces in defending the village. I travelled to Noreuil in April this year (2024), the same time of year in which the original battle took place. I was struck by the muddy conditions, the cold, the wind. It was miserable. They are still finding grenades in the fields.

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The landscape of Noreuil village is rendered in my distinctive painting style, usually reserved for the Australian wetlands and riverine landscapes that I have been painting for many years. Seen together, they bring the shared histories of both places into focus, and remind us of the human stories embedded in the landscape.

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The scars are still there in the Noreuil landscape. I hope that these new paintings inspire people to think about our own history, the intergenerational trauma of conflict, and the human stories in the local landscape here.

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Noreuil opens at Murray Art Museum Albury on Friday 25 October from 5.30pm – 7.00pm. An artist talk will take place on Saturday 26 October at 10.30am. The exhibition continues until 19 January 2025.