In an overgrown, ''cobra-infested'' cemetery in northern India, water from Lake Burley Griffin was this week sprinkled over the grave of Canberra's designer, Walter Burley Griffin, in what was described as an emotional ceremony.
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Centenary of Canberra creative director Robyn Archer and history and heritage adviser David Headon carried the ''heavily boiled'' water in a glass vessel made by local glass artist Jenni Kemarre Martiniello from the national capital to Lucknow where Burley Griffin died on February 11, 1937 and was buried the same day in an unmarked grave in the Nishatganj Cemetery of the Church of North India.
Ms Archer and Mr Headon paid tribute to Walter Burley Griffin at his now marked grave on Thursday as part of an international tour promoting next year's centenary. ''It felt fantastic and absolutely worth doing,'' she said yesterday from India.
They also lit candles around the gravesite while Ms Archer sang the hymn, Abide with Me.
Dr Headon led readings from letters by the Griffins, with Ms Archer voicing Marion Mahony Griffin and Associate Professor Christopher Vernon, of the University of Western Australia voicing Walter.
''When we were doing the readings, we had this wonderful cacophony of birds which honestly built to a crescendo in the readings. It was just extraordinary,'' Dr Headon said
The other spine-tingling moment happened as the priest was giving the Christian benediction and the Islamic call to prayer rang out around the cemetery.
''There were people who were both Hindu Christian and Islamic standing in a graveyard celebrating Walter and it was just everything Lucknow is, it's a real mix of a place,'' Ms Archer said.
The trip was made to draw attention to Walter Burley Griffin's connection to India and to foster some new bonds between Canberra and India. The Griffins set up an architectural firm in Lucknow and produced more than 50 projects between 1935 and 1937 when Walter succumbed to peritonitis.
''The fact I [previously] had no idea he was buried in Lucknow seems to me disgraceful, to know that it wasn't really recognised enough. So we jumped on it as a moment to recognise,'' Ms Archer said. ''I just think it's really important to make those connections.''
Dr Headon had also spoken at a seminar with architects and architecture students and the pair had also visited local schools.
Dr Headon said yesterday from India there had been suggestions in the past, including when he worked as a cultural adviser to the National Capital Authority, that Burley Griffin's bones should be exhumed and the grave moved to Canberra. But he opposed the move.
''It seems to me to be a practice associated with the 19th century, not the 21st century. It seems to me to be a tad ghoulish,'' he said.
''The equally symbolic reason is the Griffins had a special relationship with India. They certainly had a special relationship with Australia, albeit they fell out with Australian bureaucracy. But that notion of the purity of the early days never left them in India because Walter was only alive in India for some 14½ months. But he said in so many words that he may have been an Indian in a previous life.''
Burley Griffin's grave has been marked with a gravestone since 1988 but his birthplace Chicago had been misspelt ''Chiago''. The headstone was corrected on Thursday, being changed to the Maywood, a suburb of Chicago. The pair also had a reception at the Bhatia house designed by the Griffins.
The trip had featured in several stories in the Hindustan Times, one of the most widely read English language newspapers in India.
The paper quoted Institute of Career Studies director Amrita Dass as saying that the visit was just the beginning of a new connection between Canberra and Lucknow. ''We would like to strengthen the bond between the two cities and the two nations,'' she said.
Ms Archer and Dr Headon will also travel to England and the United States.
