Eastern Adelaide Teacher resource.pdf - Army Museum of South ...

Memorial Kensington and Norwood Soldiers’ Memorial
Address Immediately south of Norwood Parade and Osmond Terrace, Norwood
Background Information
The First World War (Great War) was a significant but tragic
time for the Kensington and Norwood community, with 183
local men losing their lives during the four-year conflict. The
Kensington and Norwood Soldiers' Memorial Committee was
formed to plan a suitable memorial and undertake fundraising
to raise money to erect the monument. The grey granite
memorial was the result. Architect H.F.R. Chisolm designed
it. Local contractors Dawes and Chisolm completed the
bronze work. A crowd of around 3,000 local people turned out
on Sunday 3 June 1923 to see the memorial unveiled. A
prominent Norwood landmark, the Kensington and Norwood
Soldiers’ Memorial, is located in a garden setting that features
red and white roses. The gardens are further dedicated to the
memory of those who paid the supreme sacrifice during
World War II.
Student Activities
On Site
(1) List five features of the Kensington and Norwood Soldiers’ Memorial and
its surrounding gardens.
The memorial column is set in a rose garden and is part of a road plantation
running down the centre of Osmond Terrace, Norwood.
It is a very high grey granite memorial with a tapered square cut column, a
pedestal and two-tier base on a concrete slab.
At the front and back of the columns are bronze wreaths.
It displays the names of the fallen in alphabetical order.
There are additional inscriptions on plaques bearing the names of the Kensington
and Norwood Soldiers’ Memorial Committee, The Kensington and Norwood
Mayor, architects, contractors and makers of the bronze work.
It also bears inscriptions relating to the dedication of the surrounding gardens and
the lower plaque reads “ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF KENSINGTON
AND NORWOOD TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE
GREAT WAR”.
(2) When the roses in the memorial garden are in bloom, they are coloured red
and white. These same coloured blooms are also seen in other war
memorial gardens. The best known example in Adelaide is in Pennington
Gardens, near the Cross of Sacrifice, which is the location of the annual
service that follows the Anzac Day march.
What do you think is the symbolic significance of this choice of colours?
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