The ‘Jersey’ Barrier was designed and developed to divide multiple lanes of road traffic in the late 1950s in New Jersey USA. They are a modular cast reinforced concrete block designed to absorb and deflect energy. There are now millions of them all over the world. They punctuate our lives, and are an iconic design object that we barely notice.

The barriers are no longer used exclusively for controlling vehicles. They are used to divide and direct human traffic. A barrier against terrorist attacks. A defence against a weaponised vehicle attack.

The English Oak tree was planted in vast numbers across the temperate zone of the Australian continent during the 19th and 20th Centuries as part of an active ‘acclimatisation’ process. English garden's hegemonic impact is also about control and direction. This tree was recovered from a garden in Montrose Victoria at the foot of Mt Dandenong. I estimate it to be over 100 years old. These iconic trees grown in Australia are harder, heavier, and denser than their English ancestors.

The top surface of the timber is finished, but not ‘dressed’. It is polished and fine, but the cracks and topography of the timber are how it has dried.

The barrier intersects the timber slab top, protruding through, with the slabs fixed with galvanised iron lintels.