26/08/2026
SALT TO SALT: A community artwork honouring our veterans 🌊
A team of Currumbin Palm Beach RSL Sub-Branch members, War Widows, Citizens' Auxiliary, non sub branch veterans and VSC staff have joined artist Shelly Kelly to create something truly special for this year's SWELL Sculpture Festival.
Led by veteran Curl, the group has been meeting regularly at the Veterans Support Centre, hand-crafting salt bricks that will form a boat inspired by the Spirit of the Anzacs surf lifesaving boats — the vessels that carry veterans' ashes out to sea each Anzac Day in the Ashes to Sea service.
Just as the ashes return to the sea, Shelly's bricks are designed to slowly dissolve back into nature, a quiet symbol of the cycle of life continuing; allowing us to contemplate presence and absence on a deeper level.
Brad Cox and the Elanora Woodworking Club are adding the finishing touch, hand-crafting rowing oars for the boat.
Come see the finished artwork and the story behind it at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Currumbin Beach, 11–20 September!