Hawkesbury People & Places
Windsor War Memorial
War memorial
The Windsor War Memorial is located in Memorial Park on the corner of George Street and Tebbutt Street, Windsor, New South Wales.
For a list of the names recorded on the memorial and photographs of the site go to Hawkesbury-on-the-Net
The memorial takes the form of a set of gates on which the names of service men and women who served in World Wars One and Two. In July 1920 the Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported that a subscription fund was to be commenced in order to raise funds for the construction of a suitable memorial to those who served in World War One. Alderman Spinks moved the following motion:
That this council take immediate steps for the erection of a suitable memorial to the men who enlisted and fell in the recent great war from within the municipality and authorise subscription lists to be issued for public donations.
The motion was carried with £18 being raised from the aldermen at the meeting. By October 1921 an amount of over £130 had been collection but no memorial had yet been erected. The building of the memorial was in doubt and there were suggestions from some aldermen for the funds to be directed towards other building projects. There was also a suggestion that such a memorial be more suitably placed in Thompson’s Square.
With £240 in hand by September 1923, two versions of plans for the memorial were submitted by the Windsor Memorial Committee to council which resolved “That the Council call tenders for the erection of the memorial, on the plan and specifications submitted.”
The foundation stone for the memorial was laid on Saturday 1 December 1923 by Mr R B Orchard. There were many delays to the commencement of work which finally took place in April 1925.
The Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported on the 17 April 1925 that:
A start has been made on the construction of the Windsor War Memorial, which is to take the form of memory park gates. The pillars will be of dark face brick with trachyte slabs inlaid, containing the name of those who enlisted, and on top of the stone arch will be a trench mortar, one, of the war trophies. The work is in the hands of Mr George Andrews, of Lidcombe, and is to cost over £500. The money was raised by subscription, supplemented by a donation from the council. The foundation-stone was laid by Mr. R. B. Orchard, O.B.E., in December, 1923.
With the building works completed the official unveiling took place on Empire Day, the 24 May 1925 by Sir Granville Ryrie, K.C.M.G. A.
A procession commencing in Thompson Square made its way down George Street to the corner of Tebbutt Street.
The procession will assemble at Thompson’s Square at 2.30 p.m., and, headed by a band, will proceed along George-street to the soldiers’ memorial. The order of the processionwill be — The Bands, Friendly Societies in regalia, Members of the Fire Brigades in Uniform, Returned Soldiers, the Generals, the Rifle Club, Veterans of South African and Soudan Wars, Superintendents and teachers and scholars of Sunday schools, teachers and pupils of day schools, citizens, motor cars. The Mayor will preside at the unveiling ceremony, and after prayer by Rev. J. B. Fulton, Sir Granville Ryrie will unveil the memorial. It will then be decicated by Rev. Norman . Jenkyn, R.D. Brigadier-General Paine will then speak, and the Last Post will be sounded by Corporal Roy Mullinger. A hymn will then be sung by massed choirs, and the members of Parliament will speak. Another hymn, then the Doxology and the National Anthem. The whole of the people, of the Hawkesbury District, and visitors, are asked to join n the procession and take part in the opening ceremony. It is the desire of the committee to make the event memorable in the annals of the district.
Source: NSW State Heritage Inventory
McQuade Park including the Windsor War Memorial is listed on the NSW State Heritage Inventory and the site is included on the Hawkesbury City Council Local Environmental Plan as an item of local heritage significance. The south-east corner of the park, in a square enclosure bounded by George and Tebbutt Streets, is called Memorial Park, dedicated to war memorials. It is entered through an opening between two high brick walls bearing granite plaques which commemorate those who fought in the two world wars, in Vietnam and in Korea. Behind each wall is a field-gun. The square beyond is a formally laid-out garden around the very fine Boer War Memorial. This consists of a marble obelisk, placed on a sandstone plinth, dedicated to the three local men who died while serving in the Boer War. The stone section contains two fine relief carvings, each of a mounted trooper, carved by J. O’Kelly. A local female nurse who also served in South Africa is separately commemorated by a marble plaque placed on the perimeter of the small circular area around the obelisk. The ‘War Memorial’ is listed as a heritage item on the Local Environmental Plan.
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