An Intercontinental Study of Landscape, Memory, and Reparation

The Noreuil project is a multi-year 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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To create visual links between the two Noreuils was one of the aims of the project. It became apparent that it was the opposing structures of the landscapes that became the point to reflect upon. After the horrors of the battle fields, I hoped that the returned soldiers found some sense of calm and peace whist building the park. 

• Noreuil Park: The Murray river, flowing gently, offering soft, luminous reflections banked by the fluid forms of gum trees so different from the the landscape they left behind in France.

• Noreuil France: Now the landscape  at Noreuil is a place for reflection and contemplation. It is a flat terrain which serves to remind us of how hard the fighting would have been. The structured trees, church, chapelle and cemetery monument stand like sentinels watching over this sacred ground. 

• I also found a beautiful link with a Coral tree in Noreuil Park. This tree has flowers that reminded me of poppies, and they were falling into a puddle of water, creating reflections I found poignant. The structure of the tree was very similar to the trees in the Noreuil Cemetery; I painted them to stand next to each other as a visual connection through nature.

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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.