Boer War Memorial, Canberra

Last updated March 15, 2019

Coordinates: 35°17′18″S149°08′30″E / 35.288344°S 149.141535°E / -35.288344; 149.141535

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 410,301, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran. Although Canberra is the capital and seat of government, many federal government ministries have secondary seats in state capital cities, as do the Governor-General and the Prime Minister.

The Australian Capital Territory is a federal territory of Australia, located in the south-east of the country and enclaved within the state of New South Wales. It contains Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

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Design

Design was jointly by Pod Landscape Architecture and Jane Cavanough. The sculptor was Louis Laumen.

The design has four horsemen on their horses navigating through a stoney field with two blue-copper walls or plinths running one behind and one front-left of the horses.

The four bronze statues use colouring techniques to give various hues to the figures, such as khaki for the soldier's clothes, tan for the horse's bodies, and black for the horse manes and tails. The bronzes were cast by Fundere Foundry, Melbourne, Australia.

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals and sometimes non-metals or metalloids such as arsenic, phosphorus or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability.

Khaki is a color, a light shade of brown with a yellowish tinge. Khaki is an equal mix of sage and buff so it is considered a quinary color.

On the front plinth is a piece of poetry about the Boer War, written by Australian poet Banjo Paterson in 1902, that mentions the Monaro region in which Canberra is sited.

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem.

Monaro, once frequently spelled "Manaro", or in early years of settlement "Maneroo" is the name of a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro. While the Australian Capital Territory is not considered part of the region, some towns in the Monaro have close links with Canberra.

When the dash and the excitement and the novelty are dead,

And you've seen a load of wounded once or twice,

Or you've watched your old mate dying, with the vultures overhead,

Well you wonder if the war is worth the price,

And down along the Monaro now they're starting out to shear,

I can picture the excitement and the row;

But they'll miss you on the Lachlan when they call the roll this year,

For we're going on a long job now.^[2]

On top of the front plinth are bronze plaques showing a soldier's words in his own hand, recalling various thoughts about being at the war.

Dedication

The memorial was dedicated on 31 May 2017 by the Governor General of Australia, General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC.^[1]

General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, is a retired senior Australian Army officer who is the 26th and current Governor-General of Australia, in office since 2014.

The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.

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The Boer War Memorial, also known as the South African War Memorial, stands in a prominent position in Queen's Park, Crewe, Cheshire, England. It was erected in memory of local soldiers who had fallen in the Boer War, and consists of a bronze statue of soldier in uniform standing on a column on a stone plinth. The monument was unveiled in 1903, and contains plaques with the names of those who were lost in the war. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

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Anning Monument is a heritage-listed memorial at the corner of Hemmant and Tingalpa Road and Boonoo Street, Hemmant, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed and built by William Busby in 1903. It is also known as Hemmant Boer War Memorial. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The Boer War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Warwick Street, Allora, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1904 to 1940s. It is also known as Queen's Park and War Memorial Park. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The Anglo-Boer War Memorial was originally called the Rand Regiments Memorial and dedicated to the men of the Witwatersrand who joined as British soldiers in the Rand Regiments and who had lost their lives during the Second Boer War (1899–1902). The memorial is now next door to the South African National Museum of Military History. It was rededicated on 10 October 1999 to all people who died during the Second Boer War and renamed the Anglo-Boer War Memorial.

The King George V Memorial has been located outside Old Parliament House, Canberra since the 1940s. Commissioned in 1936 and largely completed by 1941, it took until 1953 to officially unveil the monument due to delays to the final elements of its construction which resulted from the Second World War. The Memorial was originally located directly in front of the-then Parliament House, but was moved to its current location in 1968.

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References

1 2 Boer War Memorial marking Australia's first foreign conflict unveiled in Canberra, Kofi Bonsu, ABC News Online, 2017-05-31
↑ On the Trek, AB Paterson, "Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses"

External links

Memorial website

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[2017-05-31_ABC-1] 1 2 Boer War Memorial marking Australia's first foreign conflict unveiled in Canberra, Kofi Bonsu, ABC News Online, 2017-05-31

[ABP-2] On the Trek, AB Paterson, "Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses"