Anzac War Memorial

War Memorials in Australia

Boorowa Anzac War Memorial

Place: Boorowa, New South Wales, 2586
District: Southern Tablelands
Orientation: 114 km N of Canberra
Location: Marsden Street and Lachlan Valley Way
Position: 34 26 14 S 148 43 01 E
Ref: 20019

__________________________

Facing down Boorowa's main street, the memorial forms a prominent landmark. It is an octagonal building of locally made bricks with a clock tower and is surrounded by a brick, tube railing and wire mesh wall. The roof of the building is made of English terracotta tiles. In the courtyard is a World War I machine gun and garden beds. The entrance gates are on the south side and over them is an arch in which are the words LEST WE FORGET. There is a flagpole at the entrance gates. The space inside the building forms a meeting room for the local sub-branch of the RSL. It is 21 feet square and has a jarrah parquetry floor. The doors and windows are of Queensland maple and the stone at the porch is one block of Hawkesbury sandstone.

On 23 April 1928 about 80 residents of the shire and municipality, including many returned soldiers, attended a meeting in the Guild Hall convened by the mayor in response to 'a numerously signed requisition from the public and a unanimous request from the returned soldiers'. A number of suggestions were put forward for the form of a memorial, all of them utilitarian. The meeting resolved to hold a postal ballot of all voters on the Commonwealth electoral roll for the division of Boorowa to decide on the design and to form a War Memorial League to receive contributions.

In December 1932 the state secretary of the RSL visited Boorowa and addressed a public meeting convened by the local RSL sub-branch. He discussed the erection of a memorial to ex-servicemen who enlisted from the district, a proposal that had been previously mooted but had not reached finality. Following this meeting, the sub-branch organised a design competition in conjunction with the NSW Institute of Architects. The winner was architect R. Richardson of Sydney, a returned soldier.

Fund raising was organised by Reg Sutton and George Hill, the President and Secretary of the RSL sub-branch. They were able to convince the council to make the land free of rates and the electricity company to supply free light and power. A fete in the Mechanics Institute around Anzac Day 1933 raised Ł60. The memorial was built by T. Barlow of Boorowa and cost Ł1,100. At a ceremony in June 1933, the keys of the building were handed to the President of the RSL sub-branch by the architect. The unveiling ceremony was probably held on 11 November 1933.

The fence by Dave Halloran was added in 1936.

Prouds made the four clocks, one in each side of the tower, which have served as the town standard time. Each clock face has the letters ANZAC˛ twice in place of numbers. It has been said that in Boorowa the time is always Anzac.

Polished black granite tablet on south side of building
1914 THE GREAT WAR 1918
Wreath

INSCRIBED HEREON ARE THE NAMES OF THE SOLDIERS
WHO ENLISTED FOR ACTIVE SERVICE FROM
BOOROWA & DISTRICT. AS A MEMORIAL TO THEM
THIS BUILDING WAS ERECTED IN THE YEAR 1933.

	ANTROBUS J.		GIBBONS S. B.		PALMER S.
	ATKINS J.	X	GIBBONS T. B.		PARKER C.
	BANKS S.A. R.	X	GORDON W. J.		PARKER C. H.
	BARNES T. E.		GORHAM R. L.		PARKER F.
X	BEGBIE D. S.		GORHAM S. E.		PENNY L.
	BOWLER P. J.		GREIG R.		PERCIVAL T.
	BOWLER T. E.		GREIG W.		PERKS D.
	BOWLER W. H.		GRIMSON E. D.		PITTOCK F. E.
	BROWN W.		GROCOTT S.		POLLARD G.
	BROUGH T.	X	GURNEY H.	X	POOLE S.
X	BUTT E.		HARDING F.	X	PROSSER H.
	CANTY A. J.		HARDING J.		REYNOLDS S.
	CANTY F. L.	X	HOUGH J.		RICHARDS T.
	CANTY M.		HOWARD J.	X	ROBERTS A.
	CANTY P. J.	X	HOWE A.	X	ROBERTS W. A.
	CARROLL A .J.		HUDSON A. O.		ROC H.
	CARROLL T.		HUDSON J.		ROWE H. J.
	CLARKE G. R.		HYDE T.		RYAN W.
	CLIFTON H.		IDIENS B.		SAVAGE C. C.
	CLIFTON J.		JOHNSON W.		SAVAGE R.
	CLIFTON W.	X	JONES E.		SAVAGE R. J.
	COFFEY J.	X	KEEFE A.		SAY J. H.
	COLLINS E. H.		KEEFE W. P.		SAY W.
	COTTERIL J.	X	LANE A.		SCOTNEY J.
	CRANSTON A. W.	X	LANE W. J.	X	SCOTT F.
X	CUMMINS J.		LAVELLE E.	X	SILK J.E.
	CUMMINS T. P.		LEAKE E. J.		SILK J. R.
X	CROCKER J.	X	MALONE W.		SMITH F. A.
	DONLAN J.		MARTIN W. J.		SPICER C. M.
	DONNELLY P.	X	M^cCANN J.		STANFIELD W.
	DOVER T.J.		M^cDONALD A. M.		STANLEY A.
	DOWNES J. J.		M^cLAURIE W. J.		STEVENSON E. C.
	DOWNES P.	X	M^cMULLEN J.		STEVENSON M. J.
X	DOWNES T. A.	.X	MEWBURN A.	X	STEVENSON T.
	DOWNES W. F.		MEWBURN C. L.		STEWARD T. M.
	DUNN T.	X	MEWBURN R.		STUART J.
	DWYER E. T.		MORGAN N. A.		STUART S.
	EADIE W.		MORGAN R. D.		STYLES M.
X	EDGEWORTH W. H.	X	MORGAN R. R.		TELFORD A.
	ELKINS E.		MULCACHIE M.		THOMPSON H. W.
	EVANS A. M.		NEWBURY H. E. A.		THOMPSON W.
	FENTON H.		NEWMAN R.		TICEHURST S
	FINNAGAN J. P.		NICHOLSON H. C.	X	TOONE W.
	FITZGERALD J.		NOAKES A.		WEEKES J.
	FLYNN D.		O'HARA H. H.		WESLEY J. H.
X	FROST P. M.		PALMER J.		WHITEMAN T.

			XKILLED IN ACTION

Plaque below
ERECTED BY BOOROWA R.S.S.A.I.L.A.
IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO PAID THE
SUPREME SACRIFICE WORLD WAR 1939-45

.	.	WHITTINGTON C.	ROBERTS S.	.	.
		GROSVENOR H.	SHELLEY C.
		MASON W.	WARREN F.
		BUTT F.	EDMONDS S.
		LEAKE E.	KELLY F.
		GORHAM H.	O'NEILL E.
		PERCEVAL D.	SMITH R.
		COUCH B.	NOAKES P.
		COUCH W.
		.
		LEST WE FORGET

Information current to September 2000

Sources: The Inglis Collection in Australian War Memorial, AWM PR 00944 3/87
Notes for a talk by Prof. Ken Inglis, Another Shamrock in the Bush, in Boorowa Court House 28 May 1994, AWM PR00944 3/87
SMOCM Database accessed through http://amol.org.au/collection/collections_index.asp as at 14 July 2001

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