Community group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have proposed building a massive memorial to two sailors who were marooned and left to die of the coast of Western Australia in 1727.
Adriaan Spoor and Pieter Engelse were crew members on the Dutch ship Zeewijk which was wrecked off the Western Australian coast.
The ship had been heading from Cape Town in South Africa to what is now Indonesia when it’s inexperienced captain miscalculated the route and they ended up bumping into the west coast of Australia.
On the 9th June they struck the Half Moon Reef in the Southern Group of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. The crew sheltered on what is now known as Gun Island, where they found fresh water and food to survive. Some of the crew departed on a long boat to sail north for help, they are presumed to have been lost at sea, and were never heard from again.
The remaining crew then built a boat using timber from the wrecked vessel. During this fraught period two crew members were caught in what the captain described as “committing with one another in god-forsaken way the gruesome sin of Sodom and Gomorrah”.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence describe the boys as been 18 and 16, but other reports suggest they were 22, and 18. Reports from crew members recounted that the two young men denied the accusation and even when they were tortured they did not confess.
A trial was held and Spoor and Engelse were banished to separate remote islands where they were left to die without supplies. Neither of the two young men knew how to swim, and it presumed they died within a few days of being abandoned.
In March 1728, 88 remaining crew members set sail and headed north more than 10 months after they had been shipwrecked. Six of them died during the journey, but a month later they arrived in Batavia in April 1728.
The trial is recognised as the first recorded incidence of homophobia in Australia, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence say a memorial to the two young men would symbolise not only their plight, but all people who have experienced homophobia in Western Australia.
Calls for a prominent memorial to be built in Western Australia
The group lead by Mother Gretta and Sister Freda supplied several visualisations of what a potential memorial might look like, at first it included visual representations of the two young men, but an additional proposal issued on Sunday morning expanded the proposal to include five figures.
The proposed memorial would be made of bronze and include an art deco column and a black swan to symbolise Western Australia.
Sister Gretta confirmed to OUTinPerth that the visualisations had been created using artificial intelligence tools. The group’s leader said it was not only important that people learned the story of Adriaan Spoor and Pieter Engelse, but it was also essential that the statue was placed in a prominent location, such as Elizabeth Quay.
“We want to avoid what happened with the AIDS Memorial, where the community asked for a dedicated AIDS memorial but instead received a non-specific artwork in a back park, at very high cost, with large consultancy fees. Our intention is to ensure this project remains authentic, community-led, and meaningful.” Mother Gretta said.
Western Australia’s AIDS Memorial is located in Robertson Park in North Perth, but has often been described as being hidden away from the public.
“We want this memorial to truly reflect the diversity of our rainbow family and stand as a lasting tribute for generations to come.”
The updated proposal includes additional figures to represent the lesbian, transgender and other members of the rainbow communities.
Mother Gretta said the next stage would be to form a LGBTIQA+ Memorial Committee to progress the idea, and conduct wide community consultation on what the final design might look like. Consultation with the Indigenous communities would also be a central part of the process.
The group are hoping that a memorial can be commissioned and built in time to coincide with the 2030 Gay Games. A decision on whether the games will be held in Perth or Denver, Colorado is expected next month.
“We are determined that this memorial remains a community-led project,” said Mother Gretta, the artist behind the design. “I will not be taking any commission for this work — it is a gift to our community and a tribute to history. This must not become a cash-grab or lost to organisational politics. It is about truth, remembrance, and giving dignity back to two boys whose lives were erased by prejudice.”
They have also suggested that an invitation could be expended to the royal family of The Netherlands to officially open the memorial if it was built.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to unveil this memorial in time for Perth hosting the Gay Games — maybe
even with His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands doing the
honours?”, the group said.
Creating a memorial to Adriaan Spoor and Pieter Engelse would need to take artistic license
The story of the two young men was previously remembered in a 2020 art exhibition by Drew Pettifer that was held at UWA’s Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. In his work Pettifer created two portraits using models to portray Adriaan Spoor and Pieter Engelse.
Mother Gretta acknowledges that a statue of the pair would also rely on complete artistic interpretation of what the young men looked like, given there is no record of their appearance.
No costs for the proposal have been given at this time but the brass statue of Edith Cowan that was recently installed on St George’s Terrace came with a $245,000 price tag.
Around the world memorials remember lives lost due to homophobia
Memorials for people killed because of their sexuality exist in other locations around the world and they take many different forms.
Berlin’s memorial to LGBTIQA+ people killed in the holocaust is a concrete structure inside houses a moving artistic video. The video is changed every few years with a new work commissioned.
Sydney also has a LGBTIQA+ holocaust memorial in Darlinghurst’s Green Park, and more recently a memorial in Manly has remembered those killed and affected by homophobic violence.
While in Manchester Alan Turning is remembered via a statue sitting on as park bench. There are also statues of Turing at Blenchley Park and at the University of Surrey.
A commemorative plaque, situated on the rue Montorgueil in Paris, pays tribute to the couple Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir; the two men were the last persons executed in France as punishment for homosexuality in 1750, and in Switzerland a memorial remembers the tragic story of Bartolome Tecia who was killed in 1556.
