Creative Inspiration

The following statement by the artists outlines the creative and conceptual inspiration behind the HMAS Perth (I) Memorial. It explores not only the emotional intent behind the design, but also the profound scientific realities that shape how we see, remember, and honour those who served—and those who were lost.

The creative inspiration behind the design of a memorial such as this is deeply layered—an intricate fusion of visual, cultural, historical, and emotional elements, all distilled into a structurally engineered form. It is, in essence, a synthesis of art, memory, emotion, and science.

Our vision is to create a spiritual temple in memory of the men lost on HMAS Perth (I)—a sacred space in which the visitor becomes a kind of pilgrim. Upon entering, they are not merely observers, but are figuratively and physically drawn into the Memorial itself. This intensely emotive experience—of becoming immersed in glowing images of the ship and her crew—is overwhelming in its immediate, tactile intensity. In that moment, the visitor becomes part of the crew, a silent witness to their life and times, almost as if they were truly on board.

This profound effect is made possible through the mysterious and beautiful properties of light and glass, which we explore in a visionary fusion of art and science—a synthesis we believe to be unique in memorial design.

Our concept for the HMAS Perth (I) Memorial goes far beyond the purely physical. As its creators, we feel it is essential to share how this convergence of disciplines—artistic and scientific—inspired our approach to memorialisation.

When one prints a photograph onto a flat surface, the eye perceives it through a basic optical process: photons—the subatomic particles that comprise light—bounce off the image and into the retina, where the brain interprets light and shadow. This is the fundamental mechanism by which we ‘see.’

However, when we print that same image onto glass, a far more complex and fascinating interaction occurs. In our vision for the HMAS Perth (I) Memorial, we embrace the quantum properties of photons—engaging not just light and form, but space, time, and memory. The transparent medium allows photons not only to reflect back to the eye but also to pass through and continue their journey—traveling beyond the artwork, beyond the atmosphere, and into the vastness of the Universe. These massless particles, created in unimaginable numbers within the Sun every second, travel at the speed of light and may continue their journey for eternity.

A poetic—and scientific—consequence of this is that the photons passing through our memorial carry with them the images held in the glass. These images are not static; they radiate outward in all directions on electromagnetic wavefronts, potentially forever.

Even more extraordinary is the phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. At the subatomic level, particles like photons that originate in close proximity can become entangled. This means they remain connected, in a state of shared information, regardless of the distance between them—even across billions of light years. Modern physics has confirmed this “spooky action at a distance,” as Einstein once called it. It is real, measurable, and profoundly mysterious.

Our vision is to draw the visitor into this quantum vortex, making them not passive viewers but active participants in the function of the Memorial. As they stand before the images of the Perth’s crew—also captured in glass—their own reflections join the scene. In that moment, they too are entangled in memory. Their image, carried by the same stream of photons, joins that of the fallen. The observer becomes, in a deeply symbolic way, part of the crew.

This is not fanciful poetry—it is grounded in the most successful theory of physics ever devised: quantum mechanics. Without it, there would be no radio, no lasers, no computers, no GPS. One of its core principles is that energy cannot be destroyed, and therefore, the information imprinted on that energy cannot be destroyed either.

From this, we draw a breathtaking conclusion: that every moment of life aboard HMAS Perth (I)—every smile, every footstep, every breath—was recorded at a quantum level, and has been radiating outward into the Universe ever since 1942.

It is our hope that the images embedded in this memorial—radiating in tandem with those ancient photons—might one day, somewhere in the cosmos, meet the light of the original crew. That they might travel together, side by side, forever.

And so, we send this message—a message in a glass bottle—into the quantum sea: to the men of HMAS Perth (I), to let them know that they are not forgotten.

Lest we Forget.
Charles Smith OAM & Joan Walsh Smith OAM