Bushland Cemetery monument dedicated to Armenian souls

The eight-metre high monument was unveiled on Saturday 2nd April 2022, at the Frenchs Forest Bushland Cemetery, in the presence of the Hon. Jonathan O’Dea, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Chair of the NSW Armenia-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Armenian-Australian community and religious leaders and members of the community.

The monument located in the Armenian Lawn at Frenchs Forest Bushland Cemetery was commissioned by Northern Metropolitan Cemeteries Land Manager and designed by Armenian-Australian architect and SDCW Director, Andre Vahagn Vartan-Boghossian paying tribute to the 1.5 million Armenian lives lost during the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Lee Sheerer, Administrator at NSW Crown Cemeteries said: “Northern Cemeteries is proud to offer Sydney’s Armenian community an eternal place of commemoration where they can gather, remember and pay respect to victims of the past.”

Architect’s note:

“The stone base of the monument represents Armenian historic culture and knowledge, as a tree rooted in the earth where the Armenians of the past rest.”

“Portrayed in the break of the stone is the Armenian Genocide of 1915, an event which defines the identity of all Armenians today and when culture was once on the brink of coming to a halt. Out of the trunk blossoms the continuation of this culture in a new form, no longer in stone but in bronze. It is a new culture, augmented by the past and flowering in Australia,” he added.

The monument was officially opened by His Eminence Grace Bishop Haigazoun Najarian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australian and New Zealand and Jonathan O’Dea, Member for Davidson.

Also presenting during the ceremony was Dr. Stepan Kerkyasharian AO, who is the Chair of Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW – the regulating body of all cemeteries in New South Wales.

The ceremony concluded with the blessing of the newly erected Armenian monument by members of the clergy from the Armenian Apostolic Church.