Sarah Herrmann, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

A moving new mural commemorating those lost in battle has been unveiled in Kadina just in time for Anzac Day.

The piece, by local artist Glen Gearing, features realistic poppy motifs and the silhouette of soldiers on a battlefield.

It is located at the Yorke Peninsula Veterans and Community Centre and Military Museum.

“When someone walks past, it sort of stops them in their tracks and they’re like ‘wow that looks real’,” Mr Gearing said.

“The poppies bounce off the wall.”

Mr Gearing completed his first wartime piece in a personal record of two days.

“It’s kind of my contribution to remembrance,” he said.

“(While painting) I would think about what happened and the people who gave their lives.

“It was my way of showing respect to the fallen.”

Mr Gearing said his grandfather Gil Neilsen, who fought in World War II, also had a flair for art.

“He’s passed on now, of course, but a lot of his artefacts and things my parents still own,” he said.

“One of my favourite things that he did, it’s called trench craft, and he’s fashioned a boat out of a big artillery shell. You cut into the artillery shell and sort of fold it all out.

“It’s like a tall ship that he’s made out of a brass shell.”

Mr Gearing said the management of the YPVCCMM wanted the artwork to also reflect the centre’s connections with Vietnam War veterans who returned home without being hailed as heroes.

“It wasn’t accepted very well at the time because a lot of people believed we weren’t supposed to be involved,” Mr Gearing said.

The YPVCCMM, established in 2005 by a group of Vietnam War veterans, is open on Tuesdays from 9am to 3pm, Wednesdays from 9am to 12pm, and by appointment. 

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 23 March 2024.