Newcastle First World War Memorial

About

This Great War memorial stands outside the former Newcastle Post Office at 96 Hunter Street. According to Ken Inglis, it is believed to be Australia's first memorial of the Great War that incorporated a soldier-statue (Sacred places : war memorials in the Australian landscape / K.S. Inglis assisted by Jan Brazier. Published Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 2001). The foundation stone was laid by the Mayor in early April 1916 less than one year after the landing at Gallipoli and the memorial was unveiled later that year on 16 September. On the first anniversary of the Anzac landing on 25 April 1916, marchers led by men wounded at Gallipoli, saluted the incomplete pedestal on their way to church services. The memorial's erection was sponsored by a local resident and retired Naval Officer Commander Frank Gardner VD (Volunteer Decoration), while the pedestal and setting were designed by a local architect Edward Tingle. A local stonemason Thomas Browne carved the pedestal, while the marble soldier atop the memorial was carved to order by an artisan in Italy. The soldier is carved with arms reversed and head bowed. The pedestal is carved from Ravensfield sandstone from a Maitland quarry owned by Browne, with a marble Corinthian column at each corner. Marble plaques are set on the four faces of the pedestal inset with lead lettering. The main plaque with the dedication faces east and the remaining three faces contain the honour roll from the local area. When the memorial was unveiled,15 names of the dead had been inscribed. By the end of the war 73 names had been inscribed. The pedestal is unusual in that it incorporates a drinking fountain. A similar design stands at Thirroul. It is also rather ornate and as such is representative of memorials designed early in the war such as the similarly ornate early war memorial at Balmain. Later memorials from the Great War tended to be less ornate. A later bronze plaque was fixed above the northern plaque commemorating the role of the 35th Battalion, formed in 1916 and which comprised of men drawn mostly from Newcastle and its districts.

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