The unveiling of the Lucas Brothers memorial on Friday was also a satisfying experience for the local sculptor commissioned to create the plaque.
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The bronze plaque paying tribute to Brogo’s Henry “Pop” Lucas and his nine sons who served in WW2 was the first local commission for Bega’s Tony Dean.
Tony Dean is the founding proprietor of Medal Art Mint, a small artisan mint based in Bega that designs and produces custom minted medals, plaques and coins.
In discussions with the Lucas family the final design was decided upon, working with original photographs of the nine brothers and their father Henry.
“Creating the bronze plaque with 10 portraits was quite a task,” Mr Dean said.
The sculpting began late in 2016 in plasticine, where most of the sculpting is carried out. A plaster model is then cast from the plasticine into which some of the text is cut.
Then a second positive plaster model was cast adding further text. A silicone rubber mould was then taken from the plaster model to cast a wax copy, which was sent to the Crawfords bronze foundry in Sydney.
Mr Dean said after more than 10 years working from the Bega area for clients such as the Royal Australian Mint and the CSIRO, this was his first local commission and he was proud to have been involved in the job with the Lucas family.