In 2002 a nationwide student art collaboration was announced. Every one of Australia’s three thousand secondary schools received a letter inviting art teachers to send student concepts for a national SIEVX memorial.
Entries came in from across the country. They came from as far afield as Christmas Island School across to Invermay Primary in Tasmania, and from prestigious private schools to humble regional high schools. They were powerful, confronting, and beautiful. Many featured hands reaching for help. A pier made of five fingers reaching out welcoming refugees. The hundreds of artworks were exhibited in Pitt St Uniting Church, Sydney, on the 3rd anniversary of the sinking. The memorial service was notable because out of the audience, Amal Basry, a survivor of the voyage called out and was invited forwards, and told the hundreds of listeners about her ordeal in the water.
The SIEVX Memorial takes a simple first step.
It says – these lives were sacred. We won’t forget them. Over a thousand Australians, most of them children, but also community groups from every corner of the country, have made something beautiful, haunting, and full of power, to try and bring about a better Australia.
