Page 194 - Bulletin 8 2004

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late 1930 for the design of a Garden of Remembrance at George, South Cape, and won First
Prize. The George – Knysna Herald stated:

…… the design of a talented South African artist, Miss Quail, a young lady
who recently was on a visit to George, was awarded first prize of £5 5/-. Not
only a sketch but a model had been sent in and these showed great skill and
experience.

The Garden was to commemorate George’s fallen in the Great War, and to be situated on a

rectangular site at the junction of York and Courtney Streets, in the civic heart of the town
overlooked by the old Drostdy – at that time the Victoria Hotel and today the George

Museum. It required the formation of a terrace raised about two feet above the surrounding
road level, for which tons of earth were brought in. The terrace was bounded by a low stone

wall and its extensive surface was then grassed and punctuated by occasional trees; it was

entered through four gates, two at the bottom and two at the top, which immediately led the
visitor along diagonal paths that intersected at a centre-point where a small pond was

created; but the top gates could also lead the visitor directly to the spiritual heart of the
Garden which was a large circular pond, half-set in a higher terrace, and surmounted by a

stepped curved wall to whose concave water-facing side were attached plaques bearing the

names of the Fallen. From the higher terrace two paths led away to two places of quiet
contemplation with seats beneath planted pergolas. (Figs. 4.33 & 4.34).

The Garden was opened in 1932 by Prince George, the Duke of Kent, with numerous local

dignitaries in attendance. It was still largely intact in the 1960s but its position at the

junction of the town’s main streets condemned it to eventual obliteration through road
widening and traffic circulation measures.

By the early 1930s Wynne Quail had established her reputation as a sculptress and this

resulted in a variety of commissions.