An Intercontinental Study of Landscape, Memory, and Reparation

The Noreuil project is a multi-year conceptual investigation into the shared psychological and physical landscapes of Albury, Australia, and the village of Noreuil in Northern France. What began as a local inquiry into the nomenclature of Noreuil Park on the banks of the Murray River evolved into a profound exploration of World War I history, resilience, and the rehabilitative power of the natural world.

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The project traces the footsteps of the Australian soldiers who, after securing a pivotal but devastating victory in the village of Noreuil in 1917, returned to Albury to build a park as part of their post-war reparation. In a final act of remembrance, they named the park after the site of their most harrowing triumph.

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The MAMA Exhibition and French Field Study Developed for a 2024 solo exhibition at the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), this body of work seeks to bridge these two geographically disparate locations. Through extensive field research in France—working alongside local historians, landowners, and the Mayor of Noreuil—Ward captured the "living history" of the French terrain, where the physical remnants of conflict still emerge from the soil.

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A Visual Contrast of Place The series is defined by a striking tonal duality:

• The Albury Cycle: Fluid, luminous, and expansive. These works utilise the wild forms of the Murray River’s gum trees to represent tranquility and the healing of a landscape through time.

• The French Cycle: Structured, reflective, and somber. Depicting the village chapel, cemetery, and the sentinel-like trees of the Somme, these paintings serve as a quiet, formal dialogue with the fallen.

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International Recognition and Legacy Beyond the gallery, the project has fostered a significant cultural bridge between nations. In June 2025, Ward was honored with the Recognition Medal from the Mémoires du Mont-Valérien in Paris, acknowledging her role in preserving the memory of the ANZACs through a contemporary lens.

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This body of work does not merely document history; it celebrates the enduring, invisible threads that link the two Noreuils, reminding us that the landscape remains the ultimate vessel for collective memory.