KEY POINTS:
His lonely vigil is almost over.
A giant bronze statue of an Australian World War I digger which overlooks one of Sydney's busiest bridges is about to get some company - an equally imposing Kiwi counterpart.
In an affirmation of the Anzac alliance, the New Zealand infantry soldier
will be unveiled by Prime Minister Helen Clark on April 27, two days after Anzac Day.
Like his Aussie mate, the 4.2m high New Zealander will stand with bowed head and his hands clasped over the butt of an upturned rifle.
The only differences between the two is their headgear - the Australian wears a slouch hat, while the Kiwi wears a lemon squeezer - and their height.
"Because of my background I made the Kiwi about two inches (5cm) taller," said sculptor Alan Somerville, 69, who was born in Dunedin and spent 30 years farming in Central Otago before emigrating to Australia in 1988.
The New Zealand soldier will join his Australian equivalent at the western entrance to Anzac Bridge, a windswept span which funnels tens of thousands of commuters into central Sydney each day.
Mr Somerville also created the Aussie digger, which was unveiled on Anzac Day in 2000.
"They'll form a gateway to the city," he said yesterday. "It makes me proud because I was brought up on the Anzac ethic. To be able to do something like this is very special."
It took Mr Somerville nine months to make the Kiwi soldier, working in his studio in Sydney and then having the statue cast in a foundry.
Paid for by the New Zealand Government, it cost about $190,000 and weighs two tonnes.
Mr Somerville, now one of Australia's most respected sculptors, has been passionate about art since he was a boy.
"I can't remember not drawing, and the thing is I'd draw three-dimensional figures, so I suppose I was meant to be a sculptor."
After decades of farming near Ranfurly he decided to pursue his passion, moving across the Tasman and finding a job in a bronze foundry.
The Australian soldier faces the setting sun in the west and the New Zealander will face east - an echo of the famous line in Laurence Binyon's 1914 ode For The Fallen: "At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."
Like the Australian soldier, the Kiwi will have a jar of sand from a beach at Gallipoli placed inside the plinth he stands on.
"It puts the 'NZ' back in Anzac, is how the Kiwis have described it," said the New South Wales state secretary of the Returned Services League, Chris Perrin.
The RSL's national president of the RSL, Major General Bill Crews, said the new statue recognised New Zealand's contribution to the Anzac legend.
"We want to make sure that New Zealand is identified as an integral part of Anzac and this is the best way to show that, by including a New Zealand sculpture on the bridge," he said.
When the project was announced, last June, New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said: "The Anzac story belongs to two nations, not just one. It is a precious inheritance shared by both sides of the Tasman."
Helen Clark added: "Commemorating this sacrifice has become so important to New Zealanders and Australians. So, too, is the mateship and the trust forged at Gallipoli, which has created a lasting bond between Australia and New Zealand."
