War Memorial, Adelaide

Anzac Day, April 25, is a special day in Australia and New Zealand.

On April 25 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the Anzacs, landed on the Gallipoli pennisula leading a heroic, if doomed, assault against the Turkish defenders. So now, at war memorials all over Australia and New Zealand, commemoration services are held for those who perished in all armed conflicts.

The Wikipedia Anzac Day entry is excellent for backgound information but also because it features a photo of the commemoration service at Port Melbourne from 2005. This is the local service for me but is also significant because it overlooks the piers where many of those original Anzacs set sail for WWI and where they returned almost 5 years later at war's end.

The photos on this page were actually taken on 26th April 2008 which marked the inaugural Art Deco Walk by the Adelaide Chapter of the Art Deco and Modernism Society.

The South Australian National War Memorial in North Terrace was chosen as the meeting point and the wreaths are clearly visible fron the previous day's commemoration service.

The notes from the walk tell an interesting story relating to the construction of this memorial.

In 1919, shortly after the end of WWI, the South Australian State Government decided that a war memorial was required but due to issues with choosing a site and the destruction of the original five short-listed designs in a fire, it wasn't until January 1927, that the firm of Woods, Bagot, Jory and Laybourne-Smith were announced as the winners with their design entitled Spirit of Sacrifice.

The memorial was eventually unveiled on 18th April 1931.