The monument of local polished grey granite on a sandstone block is a surmounted by a white marble statue of a World War I soldier standing at ease and holding a rifle. The figure was carved in Italy of Carrara marble. The statue faces west and is supported behind by a marble representation of a tree trunk. The monument is in an island at the intersection of two roads and is flanked by bollards.

The erection of the monument was first mooted by the then Mayor of Braidwood, Mr P. Coffey at a patriotic function in Ryrie Park, a couple of years after the war started. Very little, however, was actually done in this direction until two or three years later when a local committee was formed to plan, order and install a suitable monument and to undertake the collection of the necessary funds. A contract was let to Mr O.W. Cartwright of Young. The N.S.W. Public Monuments Advisory Board expressed dissatisfaction with the design and asked to see a photograph of the figure which was, however, in Italy.  Mr J.J. Donnelly, the then Mayor and a driving force in establishing the monument, made a hurried visit to Sydney to talk to the PMAB and succeeded in getting their approval.

Soldiers who were born in Braidwood, enlisted there or whose parents resided there at the outbreak of the war were eligible to have their names added to the honour roll. The committee did their best to make the list complete but some names submitted late could not be placed in alphabetical order.

The following is an account of the unveiling:

'On a cold June morning in 1922, suitably coinciding with a holiday for the King's birthday, the memorial on the crest of the Wallace Street hill was unveiled.   Major-General Sir Granville Ryrie, a veteran of the Boer War and the Great War, a descendant of one of Braidwood's original settlers and assistant Minister of Defence in the Federal Government was asked to do the unveiling, but failed to attend.  The Mayor, Alderman Anderson, invited Mr Austin Chapman, the local Federal member, to perform the ceremony.  Austin Chapman was a local man who before his election to parliament had been an auctioneer and publican.  He was highly respected and had represented the local area in the State Legislative Assembly from 1891 - 1901 and had held the Federal seat of Eden-Monaro since Federation.  Moreover he had married a local girl, Miss O'Brien of Bellevue.  He was knighted in 1924 after becoming the Minister for Trade, Customs and Health and died in 1926.  After Chapman released the Australian flag that covered the memorial the Braidwood Band played the last post.  Chapman's speech eulogised the Australian soldiers for their toughness and steely courage, "They never turned back.  If they had the Germans would have probably overrun the world".   He dwelt on the unity of men of disparate origins, "These men stood side by side, ignoring all questions of social position".  But when the assembled crowd looked at the figure of the soldier they saw a gentle faced youth, with rifle at side, standing at ease.  Perhaps this was a truthful portrayal of the local boys as they went to war, rather than the scarred mature men that returned.  On the plinth the names were listed in order of rank with decorations included.  This distinction of rank is unusual as most of the two thousand or so Australian memorials have an alphabetical classification, or one that lists those killed separately from those who returned.  It certainly does not echo the egalitarian sentiment of Austin Chapman's speech.'¹

One newspaper report was less kind in speaking of General Ryrie who, it said 'owed his entry into political life, as did his father, through the support of this district. He failed, with characteristic political gratitude (or shall we say, ingratitude) to put in an appearance'.²

After a slow start in raising funds for the memorial, more than sufficient was subscribed at the ceremony, people calling out their names and amounts. After all expenses were met there was a surplus of £200.  This money was placed at interest in a bank with the purpose of aiding returned soldiers in need of assistance.  Such assistance was given to a number of  men in circumstances including flood relief.

From the 283 who were sent from Braidwood, 46 figured on the death roll. The memorial is unusual in that names are listed in order of rank.

The names of those who died in World War II were added to the base of the memorial but there is no record here or elsewhere in Braidwood of those local men and women who returned from that war..

West face

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Immediately below
BRAIDWOOD DISTRICT
SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL

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South face

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UNVEILED 5^TH JUNE 1922
BY THE HON AUSTIN CHAPMAN. M.P.

East face

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ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF
BRAIDWOOD & DISTRICT.

East face

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GREAT   WAR
1914 - 1918

Information current to March 2000

Sources:  The Inglis Collection in Australian War Memorial, AWM PR 00944  3/93
                ¹Ellis, Netta , Braidwood, dear Braidwood, N.N. and N.M. Ellis, Braidwood, 1989
                 Braidwood Dispatch, 28 April 1922
               ²Braidwood Review, 6 June 1922             
                 Back to Braidwood 22-29 November 1925, Official Souvenir
                 

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