Serpentine Heritage and Culture Trail

Serpentine Heritage and Culture Trail continued

Gloria standing on the new access pathway

When entering the cemetery through the gate visitors view two smaller decorative panels marking the transition through an area of remnant bush land.  These panels give recognition to both indigenous and introduced flora, whilst two larger panels have been installed at the Cemetery Burial Plot end of the pathway, marking the introduction to the formal burial area.  These two larger panels have incorporated an angel motif and were specifically designed to reflect an image that transcended the confines of any one religion whilst embracing all faiths.  

 

Serpentine has many unique stories that combine to make its character, these stories also express the history of the location and are reflective of the struggle of the early settlement of the state.  The surrounding district encompasses a large area of the original land holding allocated to Sir Thomas Peel.  The lead artists worked with members of the Serpentine Historical Society to uncover a wealth of old photographs.  Many of these images had been made available to the Society for use in the project and provided an exceptional visual record of historical and cultural value.  The diversity of content was quite overwhelming, unfortunately not all images could be included within the context of the community artworks produced during the project.  However, it is pleasing that a comprehensive selection of images were chosen and fixed to the ceramic tiles.  These images were translated into under-glaze using a highly specialised process and subsequently fired in a kiln to produce images of exceptional permanence. 

A selection of 64 images were chosen for inclusion into the base area of the interpretive stands and these were fixed around the perimeter of the horizontal surface of the base areas. The interpretive plaque stands and accompanying photo tiles provide visitors and residents with a kaleidoscope of images, highlighting the many different people and activities of the Serpentine community and remain as an interesting and permanent display of cultural and historical information.

 

Photo of a family with their group settlement tent