A toey dog lead to Rodney Pople’s highly commended painting of the Rocky Hill War Memorial.
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The acclaimed artist was staying overnight in Goulburn, where he stores his paintings.
The whippet would not rest, so at 3am Pople set out for a walk.
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As a frequent visitor to his sister in-law’s former farm in Marulan, Pople was familiar with Goulburn’s landscape.
He’d always been struck by the memorial atop Rocky Hill, but it was not until he saw it in the dark of the early morning that he fully appreciated its grandeur. When Pople turned a corner and was blown away by the beaming lights.
“It was absolutely and utterly awe-inspiring,” he said. “I was totally struck by it, it must be one of the most outstanding memorials anywhere.”
This experience resulted in the painting ‘Goulburn War Memorial at 3am’ which was highly commended in the 2018 Gallipoli Art Prize announced on Wednesday.
The painting shows light beaming from the memorial in the still of night.
An oil on linen piece, it forms part of a Gallipoli series Pople is currently working on, exploring the strength of the idea within Australian culture.
Pople is not alone in his admiration for Rocky Hill.
The Goulburn Evening Penny Post, paid tribute to it, shortly after its opening, saying, “it was now generally admitted that this was the finest memorial in Australia.”
Built by public subscription, the memorial was opened on December 15, 1925.