Mount Barker War Memorial

1923 'THE GOVERNOR AT MOUNT BARKER.', The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1954), 5 January, p. 2. , viewed 31 Jan 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147758492

1923 'A SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL.', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 3 February, p. 32. , viewed 01 Feb 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87427993

History

The First World War (1914-1918) was a seminally significant event in the history of Australia. Historians trace the genesis of the spirit of Australian nationalism to the role played by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in the war against Germany and its ally, Turkey; on the other hand, the nation has never forgotten that thousands of the flower of its young manhood were slaughtered in the battlefields of Gallipoli, Palestine, France and Flanders.

Whereas, to some extent at least, Britain and the USA were able to repatriate many of their dead for burial at home, this was denied to Australia. People accepted that their dead warriors had to remain in overseas cemeteries (which were created and preserved magnificently by the Imperial War Graves Commission.) Nevertheless, Australians wished to commemorate their deaths by erecting monuments, and these proliferated in almost every town and city across the nation in the 1920s.

The town of Mount Barker was no exception. Here a memorial was first suggested as early as 1917 – over a year before the end of the war. An article in The Courier of 15 June reports that a parade of solders on leave from the front was held in the town and concludes with a remark that, as the town ‘lacks a bold and distinctive architectural feature,’ ‘a memorial clock tower ... or some similar structure’ should be provided. This expression of patriotism, gratitude and civic pride was realised some four years later, The Adelaide Chronicle of 10 September 1921, reports that a meeting in Mount Barker had decided to erect a war memorial and to ‘advertise for a designer.’ The town aimed to raise 1000 pounds to pay for it.

The memorial was commissioned from the Adelaide Monumental Works (the manager of which was A.S.Tillett, the ancestor of the present manager of the firm, which is now called the South Australian Monumental Works) in 1922. It was placed at the western end of Gawler Street at its junction with Adelaide Road. The unveiling was performed by the (new) governor of SA, Sir Tom Bridges, on 24 December 1922 (Christmas Eve,) ‘midst an intense silence’ (The Courier, 5 January 1923.) Traffic on Adelaide Road was stopped 2:30 - 4:20 pm. A guard of honour of ex-servicemen attended the Governor and he was presented with a ‘civic address.’ The ceremony was the first the new Governor performed in SA outside Adelaide.

The memorial consisted of a life-sized Italian marble statue of a ‘digger,’ in ‘stand-easy’ pose, on top of an Angaston marble die (pedestal,) which rests on granite steps. The carving and erection of the memorial were done by Tillett’s workmen but for the marble ‘digger,’ which was purchased ready-carved from one of the Italian firms which had been carving memorials for graves for hundreds of years (and still are.) The actual cost of the memorial was 350 pounds, and a collected surplus of about twenty pounds was to be spent on engraving the name of the Governor and the date of the unveiling on it. (This was never done.)

In 1979, the memorial was moved from Gawler Street to its present position in Mann Street. An indication of the importance and emotional significance of the First World War memorials is that they are usually placed in a prominent place in the town, often at a major road junction but – with the increase in motor traffic from the 1930s – they became vulnerable to damage, and many have been moved to quieter sites as a result.

The ‘digger’ figure is an example of a genus with several species of such figures which were manufactured in the marble-producing centres of Italy for memorials in many countries following the end of the War. Although some were carved by local stonemasons, it is certain that this is not one of them because The Courier of 8 December 1922, reports that ‘the soldier has arrived from Italy.’ (This announcement is attributed to a Mr Sillett, which must be a misprint.)

The Mount Barker Soldier’s Memorial, An Historical Study by Donald Richardson.1997.

Ref: Vertical File MTB-HI-00018, Local History Centre, Mount Barker Community Library.

World War I

• BRADFORD Clement Everly
• BULBECK Charles George Francis (F.T.)
• BURRETT James Robert
• CADDY Frank Bayliss
• CAMERON Harold Hartley Hannaford
• CARLSON Alfred Victor
• CHOAT James Henry
• CLARK Harold Ernest
• COLLEY Mark William
• DANIEL J.H.(John Hamlyn)
• DAVIS Perry Thomas Lindsay Lot
• EDWARDS C.R.(Cyril Randolph)
• FIDLER Bertram Hay
• FRY W.A.(William Albert)
• GOLLAN John Alexander
• GOWER J.L.D.(John Lewis Davison)
• GRAY F.(Frederick)
• GRAY M.(Mark Jnr.)
• GRIFFIN B.S.(Bashom Stanley)
• HEINRICH R.(Richard William)
• HOLLAMBY D.E.(David Ewart)
• JENKINSON C.(Charles)
• JORDAN James Andrew
• LAWSON A.(Arthur Walter Lacey)
• LLOYD A.F.(Frank William)
• MILES F.T.(Thomas Francis)
• MOONEY E.A.J.(Ernest Alfred John)
• OBORN E.H.(Elder Harrah)
• PARKER W.D.(William Delaney)
• PATERSON H.(Hubert)
• POLLARD O.S.(Oliver Stanley)
• POPE Reuben
• ROUSE C.R.(George Richards)
• SKIPPER T.(Thomas James)
• SLOCOMBE R.J.(Robert James)
• THOMSON J.L.(John Leadbetter)
• WALTERS A.L.(Arthur Leslie)
• WATTS N.R.(Norman Ray)
• WESTLEY R.(Richard)
• WOODLAND R.K.(Reginald Keith)

Research shows 6 soldiers were omitted from the memorial who showed their main place of association was Mount Barker.

• DAVIES, Herbert James
• FAHEY, Edward John
• HARRINGTON, Keith
• JENSEN, Carl Marius
• O'LEARY, David Patrick
• O'LEARY, John

World War II

• ANDERSON Archibald Sylvester
• CARROLL N.L.
• COWAN Colin Robert
• DOWNING J.A.
• DUFFIELD N.V.
• FISCHER R.C.
• HENDER K.
• HUNT J.
• LEHMANN H.
• MONKS J.P.
• MOSSOP J.
• NICKER B.E.
• PAECH B.
• REIMANN T.H.
• SCHWAB W.
• WHIBLEY G.
• WITHERS R.B.

Vietnam

• DE VRIES VAN LEEUWEN T.J.

See also:

• Virtual War Memorial Australia : Mount Barker War Memorial
• Monument Australia : Mount Barker War Memorial
• Mount Barker Soldiers' Memorial: The Men behind the Names 1914-1918; compiled by Sue Sautter, Local History Centre, Mount Barker Community Library, District Council of Mount Barker. Printed by Adelaide Hills Colour Bureau, 2014.