Gail O’Brien of the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse cancer hospital says support from the Holy Name of Mary parish and Catholic schools in Hunters Hill was “very special” after parishioners replaced a stolen artwork featuring red poppies just in time for Remembrance Day.
The original large tapestry was taken from the treatment centre and hospital in Camperdown following an ANZAC Day service there in April.
Cancer patients and their loved ones had hand-crafted hundreds of red poppies for the tapestry as part of an art therapy project, and for more than five years the tapestry was displayed on the grand piano in the foyer during ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day services there.
The theft made news headlines and O’Brien, wife of the late surgeon Chris O’Brien, appealed for the deeply symbolic artwork to be returned.
O’Brien, a parishioner at Holy Name of Mary, and its parish knitting group joined forces with primary school students at Villa Maria Catholic Primary School and the “Poppy Club” team at St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill to recreate the missing item.
The task took around four months, with a group of mothers of former Trinity Grammar School students also getting involved in the final weeks, helping to sew hundreds of crocheted or knitted poppies onto the large tapestry in time to make an official presentation to the hospital on Remembrance Day.
The knitters themselves began their community-building venture in 2021 when parishioner Myra Edwards launched it, calling it the Twiddle Muff team, after the hand-knitted sensory items they made for people experiencing dementia.
Her daughter, Villa Maria Family Educator Marea De Angelis, said the Twiddle Muff initiative connected school families with the older generation in the parish and the wider community “with support and connection to ease isolation and loneliness.”
“Twiddle Muff connected more than 100 young families with the elderly in the parish and they have also knitted and crocheted poppies to sell on ANZAC Day in the parish and school, raising funds for Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and local charity Keith’s Closet,” she said.
“They have also made bonnets for single mums with newborns and scarves, hats, and blankets for the homeless.”
O’Brien said that given the deep community bonds already in place, a new tapestry for the centre foyer came together quite quickly.
“The whole thing was really special, it grew out of nothing really but people know about the hospital and the good work being done here and so it brought so many people together with a common purpose,” she said.
The gift warmed hearts at the hospital and the wider community. New South Wales Governor Margaret Beazley joined the group at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse for the presentation on 11 November.
O’Brien bears no grudge against whoever stole the original artwork in April.
“It was very strange that someone took it on ANZAC Day and why the person did is a mystery, but Newtown has a lot of needy people and hopefully the person needed it and liked it,” she said.
“This new one has a tracker on it so if it goes missing it can be found.”
