News and Events

ANZAC Day 2005

This morning I would like to share with you my thoughts about war memorials in the landscape, and in particular, this one. Most monuments were erected after World War 1 ended in November 1918, although the occasional one, like the Balmain memorial at Loyalty Square, was unveiled in 1916.

The proliferation of memorials, 516 in NSW and 1,445 throughout Australia, was testimony of the emotive power of Anzac sacrifice. Almost 60,000 Australians were killed in Gallipoli, France and the Middle East between 1914 and 1918, and back home mothers, fathers, wives, brothers and sisters had no tangible effects to bury and had to find their own private way to mourn. It required a public display of mourning and commemoration.

The search for a collective resting place for the 174 residents of Glebe who died in the war began in 1919, with three locations given serious consideration. In March 1921 the decision was made in favour of a site beside St John's, Bishopthorpe, an important spiritual consideration. At the time this land was part of the grounds of Hereford House, then a teachers' college which was later demolished with the land becoming a 'rest park'. Memorials required much local and voluntary initiative. A special committee was set up to oversee plans, and Glebe people donated £2,500, greater than the average cost of memorials in the state. Clearly the Glebe community was determined to demonstrate its commitment to residents who did not return. Some 792 Glebe citizen soldiers (they were all volunteers) enlisted in the war.

All local people involved in the project acted in an honorary capacity, including architect William Martin who designed and supervised the building of the monument. Martin, born in Wollongong in 1852, married Louisa Bennett at Paddington in 1878, a union that produced seven children. Martin was vice president of the Institute of Architects from 1885 to 1887, subsequently established an architectural [practice in Glebe, was an active anti-conscriptionist in 1916 and 1917, and a Glebe councillor 1922 - 1925. He died in Glebe on 14 November 1937. His design of the monument was praised in the popular press, and by the organizing committee, but received strong criticism from others. The design failed to win the approval of the architectural magazine, Building, which in its 1921 survey of memorials described the design as 'appalling'. Building returned to the subject in 1929 when an article on the memorial had praise only for the setting, with every aspect of the design heavily criticised:

'Truly there are worse things than war when such horrible things as this can be perpetrated in times of peace. ... The whole appears as if it has been composed of discarded pieces found on the premises of a monumental mason.'

Inglis and Brazier, in their survey of memorials in Australia, found the Glebe monument to be the only one of its kind. What is especially unusual about the monument is that rarely is a soldier accompanied by a sailor in these monuments because the RAN had only 5,000 men in a few notable actions. The Glebe memorial images relate to Australia, and the inscriptions are simple and understated. Neither the Empire nor Britain are represented or mentioned, although it was a different matter in the speeches at the setting of the memorial stone, and the unveiling of the memorial. Both events were performed by Lord Forster, Governor General of Australia from 1920 to 1925, during which time the Forsters travelled around the country dedicating war memorials. At the laying of the foundation stone on 3 June 1921 Lord Foster linked Empire and birthright in a stirring speech, noting 'this monument symbolises the sentiment which made for the civilization of the world', and that 'the Empire was indebted to those who had answered the great call and had given their lives in the Great War'. On 25 April 1922, 83 years ago, Lord Forster unveiled the memorial, while his wife, Lady Rachel Forster, unveiled the busts of the sailor and soldier. It was especially poignant for the Forsters; their two sons were killed in the war. On Anzac Day 1922, in his speech, Lord Forster thought it 'fitting' that the memorial should be opened on the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli, and spoke of the heroism and daring of 'Australia's sons' who took part in the landing. He went on to link the 'true comradeship and devoted love of our motherland and our country which inspired those great doings which we commemorate today'. The Sydney Mail sent their photographer to the unveiling; it shows hundreds of local people, most wearing hats, surrounding the memorial.

The granite and marble mausoleum echoed the shape of an Egyptian temple with classic Greek touches, following the tradition of mixing Christian and classical imagery. Within the mausoleum the individual names of 174 dead are inscribed in marble with a bronze nurse watching over them. Dick Horan and Edgar Fitzgerald were killed at the Anzac Cove landing on 25 April 1915, and a further 23 Glebe men died on the Gallipoli peninsula. Glebe casualties continued to mount - 42 died in France in 1916, and 1917 was the worst year when the names of 76 Glebe soldiers were listed among the dead. Anglo-Saxon names predominate on Glebe's marble nameplate, and some families mourned the loss of more than one member. Brothers George and Frank Maltby, Dick and Murray Sharpe, Lance and Harry Dawson of Wigram Road, Gus and Alick Faerber of 160 Hereford Street, Erle and Harry Neaves of 33 Avona Avenue and Albert and John Cotter of 266 Glebe Road were all buried near foreign battlefields.

The Carrara marble Angel, which bears a resemblance to Gilbert Doble's winged Angels on monuments at Pyrmont and Leichhardt, guards those symbolically resting in the mausoleum. Under this is the simple dedication:

Erected by Glebe Residents in Memory of The Glorious Dead.

The bust of the Digger on the left hand side, and the Jolly Jack of HMAS Sydney on the right were fashioned at Ansell Odling, Surry Hills, by Italian sculptor Casiandro.

The Memorial was vandalised in 1989. The busts of the Digger and Sailor were removed, the Angel decapitated and the interior marble plates covered in graffiti. A Glebe Society sub-committee was formed in 1991 to restore the memorial and two years later the Traditional Stonemasonry Co Pty Ltd was commissioned to carry out the restoration work in two stages. They hold the moulds of the new figures sculpted by Kris Krawcyk. The total restoration work, completed in 1997, cost $42,680. The local community contributed $22,880 towards the project, and two Heritage Program grants contributed $19,800.

Rob McLean has been present at every service held here since Anzac Day 1994 to pipe the lament on the bagpipes. He has just come from Rockdale, where he performed the same service.

- Max Solling