ANZAC Day dawn service, 2022
After years of pandemic lockdowns, crowds were again free to attend Anzac Day dawn services & ex-servicemen marches on 25th April 2022. And thousands did!!
But ANZAC/Australian & New Zealand Army Corps Day may have changed over the decades; critical debate and political controversies are being raised now. The divisiveness is about the compulsion to be patriotic and stand by the historical massacres at any cost. Many think we should commemorate Armistice Day instead, when world peace was declared at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. Note however that Remembrance Day never had the nation-building dimension in Australia that Anzac Day has.
ANZAC Day Service, Boonah Memorial, 1924.
State Library Qld.
The Melbourne Shrine was very big and impressive, taking years to complete, and it wasn't officially dedicated until 11th Nov 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester. 300,000 people met to watch that 1934 event, and there was a commitment that the shrine would always have an unimpeded and uninterrupted view from the city.
The memorials erected in or after WW1 became Australia’s first monuments, recording the devastating impact of WW1 on a young nation. Australia lost 60,000 from only 4 million people. Even before the war ended, memorials became a visible expression of national grief. To those who created them, they were as sacred as grave sites i.e graves for the Australians whose bodies still lay in European and Middle Eastern battlefields. British policy decreed its bodies were to be buried where they fell and never taken home.
What about small, rural towns? Boonah War Memorial (pop 2000) was in a town in South Qld where the foundation stone was laid in May 1920; it was unveiled in July 1920 as part of the visit to Boonah by the Prince of Wales-later King Edward VIII. The marble and granite memorial was designed and made by Ipswich masonry firm F Williams and Co., honouring the local men who served in WW1.
The £600 cost was raised by public subscriptions, organised by a memorial committee. Memorial Park in Boonah was enclosed by a brick and wrought iron fence, with wrought iron gates at the front and rear corners, flanked by pillars with ball finials. A central concrete path led to the memorial which was surrounded by tiered garden beds. A flagstaff was located on the south western side. The specifically designed memorial park and fence were opened on Anzac Day 1922 by war hero-politician Capt Arnold Wienholt.
The memorials erected in or after WW1 became Australia’s first monuments, recording the devastating impact of WW1 on a young nation. Australia lost 60,000 from only 4 million people. Even before the war ended, memorials became a visible expression of national grief. To those who created them, they were as sacred as grave sites i.e graves for the Australians whose bodies still lay in European and Middle Eastern battlefields. British policy decreed its bodies were to be buried where they fell and never taken home.
What about small, rural towns? Boonah War Memorial (pop 2000) was in a town in South Qld where the foundation stone was laid in May 1920; it was unveiled in July 1920 as part of the visit to Boonah by the Prince of Wales-later King Edward VIII. The marble and granite memorial was designed and made by Ipswich masonry firm F Williams and Co., honouring the local men who served in WW1.
The £600 cost was raised by public subscriptions, organised by a memorial committee. Memorial Park in Boonah was enclosed by a brick and wrought iron fence, with wrought iron gates at the front and rear corners, flanked by pillars with ball finials. A central concrete path led to the memorial which was surrounded by tiered garden beds. A flagstaff was located on the south western side. The specifically designed memorial park and fence were opened on Anzac Day 1922 by war hero-politician Capt Arnold Wienholt.
State Library Qld.
Australian war memorials were distinctive in that they commemorated the dead lads AND also the survivors. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other battling armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour. Many memorials honoured those who served from a local area, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. [In my generation, conscription for the Vietnam War was hated].
WW1 soldier statue,
Boonah Qld
Australian war memorials also displayed imperial loyalty; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects. In Queensland, the soldier statue (above) was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk (below) prevailed in the southern states, ? because of Queensland's larger working-class populace. The soldier embodied the ANZAC Spirit and the qualities of the ideal Australian man: loyalty, courage, youth, informality.
WW1 obelisk
North Sydney
Immediately following the 1918 Armistice, a grateful Commonwealth Government brought captured machine guns to Australia, and distributed them to towns and cities. A local display of captured weapons was especially important for this young country, far removed from the European battle fields. It was also a nation that had suffered the highest per capita casualty rate of any combatant nation in WW1! After a long public debate, the State War Trophy Committee decided that trophies would be allocated on the basis of population, rather than on enlistments. For Queensland, this meant that only larger towns could apply for larger, more valuable guns. Note the Committee believed Boonah’s population to be too small to apply.
Trophy gun from WW1,
Boonah Memorial park
Great War guns traded on the open market would have been a controversial process back then, when emotions were still raw and when the distribution of war trophies was strictly controlled by State and Commonwealth agencies. Thus Boonah became the only Australian town ever to buy a privately-owned trophy gun on behalf of community.
The memorial was made of coarse marble, a pedestal surmounted by an obelisk and a digger statue, and sitting on a marble base. The columns were surmounted by four marble corner urns, and in the centre of the columns see the marble plates with the names of the 374 local men who served in WW1. The 69 locals who died were named on the front and the rear recorded the names of nurses and chaplains.
Projecting from the centre of the pedestal was the tapered marble obelisk, 6 m high. Surmounting the obelisk was the digger statue, the Australian soldier standing at ease with his head bowed and his hands resting on his reversed rifle. Queensland War Memorials provided evidence of an era widespread Australian patriotism & nationalism in WW1.
The memorial was made of coarse marble, a pedestal surmounted by an obelisk and a digger statue, and sitting on a marble base. The columns were surmounted by four marble corner urns, and in the centre of the columns see the marble plates with the names of the 374 local men who served in WW1. The 69 locals who died were named on the front and the rear recorded the names of nurses and chaplains.
Projecting from the centre of the pedestal was the tapered marble obelisk, 6 m high. Surmounting the obelisk was the digger statue, the Australian soldier standing at ease with his head bowed and his hands resting on his reversed rifle. Queensland War Memorials provided evidence of an era widespread Australian patriotism & nationalism in WW1.
Boonah Memorial park
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1 comment:
The Melbourne Shrine was certainly huge. Even though I wasn't born when it was dedicated in 1934 before 300,000 people, its location, size and uninterrupted view from the city have been protected ever since. StKilda Rd is still the most important boulevard leading into the City.
Did Queenslanders look at Melbourne's shrine?
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