|
Howard War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at William Street, Howard, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1921. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == The Howard War Memorial was unveiled on the 18 December 1921 by local war hero and politician, Colonel Colin Rankin (father of Queenslands first woman Senator, Dame Annabelle Rankin). The pedestal was produced by Maryborough monumental mason, John T Satchwill, and the statue was imported from Italy. The memorial honours the 37 local soldiers who died during the First World War. Later plates honour the two soldiers who fell during the Second World War and one who fell during the Korean War.〔 In 1918, a Howard and Burrum district memorial committee was established to raise funds for a war memorial. They were assisted by the ladies of the Red Cross in raising approximately £300.〔 Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.〔 Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word "cenotaph", commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means "empty tomb".〔 Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they made the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.〔 Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.〔 Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.〔 Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC spirit and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian: loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials〔 Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.〔 The statue at Howard was imported from Italy and is unique in that no concessions have been made to the appearance of an Australian soldier. The statue is depicted in full Italian Alpino uniform and accoutrements, including badges. The demarcation of the rank of Sergeant is unique to this memorial. It is also one of only two in Queensland to include a back pack, the other being the Bundaberg memorial.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Howard War Memorial」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|