Cobar Miners Memorial
on Wongaibon land
Continuing our work in regional NSW our Cobar Miners Memorial has officially opened.
The memorial commemorating those who have died in the local Cobar mines and those who have died from mining related diseases, is located within the Cobar Miners Heritage Park. The new memorial forms a central focus as part of a collection of artifacts and memorials on the Barrier Highway entry to the Cobar township.
The site forms part of the gateway to the town and is visually connected to the Great Cobar Heritage mine site opposite. The assembly of artefacts and the Great Cobar Heritage Centre are significant parts of the towns European settlement and history.
There is an authenticity about the site, it reflects the reality of this tough mining town, and is evidence of its history and community.
In these of days manufactured themes Cobar, or Kubbar the Ngiyampaa reference for the place, has succeeded in maintaining its sense of PLACE.
The design provides a single room of 60m2 under an earth mound. Visible from the highway and arranged on the site to capture the pedestrian entry from the carpark, the new building conveys symbolic references to the mining industry through simple form and material, respects the site with its earth and landscaped roof and provides paved forecourt for more formal gatherings of family and community on memorial service days.
The memorial embraces you on entry to the park, with its tough insitu concrete walls and the focus, the large steel plate entry portal.
A minimal abstract expression of the mine head. Still rusting, bolted, and braced both dramatic and curious to the passer-by. A steel spike piercing through the roof as a snorkel to the sky provides a natural vent for the space.
Within the underground chamber, the stories are told, and the victims memorialised in the symbolic tag board of brass plaques. A poignant reminder of the fact that these miners did not tag off on the shift that day.
The design embedded with layers of meaning, adds to the towns story, and creates a small but significant addition to the PLACE that is Cobar.
The memorial at Cobar, continues spa’s history of working within our community.
Our Wollondilly Shire Hall upgrade in Picton, now in construction, is stage 1 of the masterplan for the Wollondilly Shires Civic Centre. This masterplan was initially prepared to aid grant funding for the council as a collaboration with Elton Consulting, E8Urban and spa.
Similarly, our work with Cobar Shire Council commenced with a review of the Great Cobar Heritage Centre where we provided masterplan outlines, site analysis, brief scope, and concepts to assist with grant applications. With the success of grant funding in various packages the Heritage Centre is now underway and the memorial complete.
Client: Cobar Shire Council and Cobar Miners Memorial Committee
Value: $900k
Completion: 2021
Role: concept, design, documentation, building and internal memorial ,stephen pearse architect pty ltd spa
Internal displays : jelly design
Images – night hero Klae McGuinness photography
All other photographs stephen pearse architect.
Contact: stephen pearse 0402908797 www.stevepearse.com.au