Pinkenba War Memorial

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Pinkenba War Memorial
Pinkenba War Memorial 01.jpg
Pinkenba War Memorial, 2013
LocationEagle Farm Road, Pinkenba, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Coordinates 27°25′25″S153°07′08″E / 27.4235°S 153.1189°E / -27.4235; 153.1189 Coordinates: 27°25′25″S153°07′08″E / 27.4235°S 153.1189°E / -27.4235; 153.1189
Design period1919 – 1930s (interwar period)
Built1925
Architect Ernest Gunderson
Architectural style(s) Classicism
Official name: Pinkenba War Memorial
Typestate heritage (built)
Designated3 October 2005
Reference no.602453
Significant period1920s (fabric)
Significant componentsmemorial – pillar/s, fence/wall – perimeter, trees/plantings, garden – bed/s, flagpole/flagstaff
Australia Queensland location map.svg
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Location of Pinkenba War Memorial in Queensland
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Pinkenba War Memorial (Australia)

Pinkenba War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Eagle Farm Road, Pinkenba, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Ernest Gunderson and built in 1919. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 October 2005. [1]

Memorial object which serves as a focus for memory of something

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for the memory of something, usually a deceased person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains and parks.

Pinkenba, Queensland Suburb of City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Pinkenba is the name of a suburb in eastern Brisbane, Australia, on the northern side of the Brisbane River, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Brisbane central business district. The area is spatially isolated from other residential suburbs and is surrounded by the Brisbane Airport to the north and west, and industrial land and the bank of the Brisbane River to the south. Pinkenba recorded a population of 350 people at the 2011 Australian Census.

City of Brisbane Local government area in Queensland, Australia

The City of Brisbane is a local government area that has jurisdiction over the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Brisbane is located in the county of Stanley and is the largest city followed by Ipswich with bounds in part of the county. Unlike LGAs in the other mainland state capitals, which are generally responsible only for the central business districts and inner neighbourhoods of those cities, the City of Brisbane administers a significant portion of the Brisbane metropolitan area, serving almost half of the population of the Brisbane Greater Capital City Statistical Area. As such, it has a larger population than any other local government area in Australia. The City of Brisbane was the first Australian LGA to reach a population of more than one million. Its population is roughly equivalent to the populations of Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory combined. In 2016–2017, the council administers a budget of over $3 billion, by far the largest budget of any LGA in Australia.

Contents

History

Pinkenba War Memorial is located on a small triangular portion of land at the intersection of McBride Road and Eagle Farm Road at Pinkenba. It was unveiled on 16 August 1919, [2] [3] by His Excellency Governor Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams. It was erected to commemorate the men from the district who had served during World War I. [1]

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

A small community existed at Pinkenba as early as the 1860s when the residents began discussing the need for a school in the district. A formal application for a school, lodged in 1874, listed 22 families with children living in the area. The early residents largely comprised small farmers, many of them of German origin. From the late nineteenth century, the abattoir of the Queensland Meat Export Company was located at Pinkenba and it remained a major employer in the district until after WWI. The wharves, servicing passenger and freight ships, were also a hub of commercial activity. In 1897, a rail link was provided to service the wharves, industries and residents of Pinkenba. [1]

Australian troops on board the Omrah (ship) at Pinkenba Wharf, circa 1915 StateLibQld 1 158673 Australian troops on board the Omrah (ship) at Pinkenba Wharf, Brisbane, ca. 1915.jpg
Australian troops on board the Omrah (ship) at Pinkenba Wharf, circa 1915

During WWI, the Pinkenba wharves were the point of embarkation for many Australian troops, including members of the Australian Light Horse. Pupils from the local school visited the wharves to farewell soldiers from the district. The Pinkenba War Memorial records the names of 42 men who enlisted, eight of whom are listed as fallen. [1]

Australian Light Horse light cavalry

Australian Light Horse were mounted troops with characteristics of both cavalry and mounted infantry, who served in the Second Boer War and World War I. During the inter-war years, a number of regiments were raised as part of Australia's part-time military force. These units were gradually mechanised either before or during World War II, although only a small number undertook operational service during the war. A number of Australian light horse units are still in existence today.

The memorial was designed and constructed by the Queensland firm of Ernest Gunderson. Gunderson was a skilled tradesman of Norwegian extraction whose firm specialized in the manufacture of bronze honour boards. The firm operated until the mid 1930s and supplied memorials all over Queensland. His best-known and largest memorial is in the main street of Gayndah. At the time of its unveiling, it was described as one of the finest in the State. [1]

Gayndah Town in Queensland, Australia

Gayndah is a town and locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2011 census, Gayndah had a population of 1,789 people.

Commemorating the servicemen from the district Pinkenba War Memorial 02.jpg
Commemorating the servicemen from the district

Gunderson individually moulded decorative devices for his honour boards and these make them quite distinctive as a Queensland type. The Pinkenba monument features similar devices including an artillery shell encircled by a wreath. There were also a series of statuettes fixed to the monument that were removed, probably before World War II. These included mounted light horsemen located on each corner above the columns and a statuette of a soldier that stood to the north of the dome. [1]

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

In 1983, Brisbane City Council plumbers and sheet metal workers repaired some of the damage sustained by the monument. However, important elements including the statuettes and some lettering remain lost. [1]

In the 1960s, the character of Pinkenba changed. Many residents moved out of the area as homes were resumed to make way for proposed Eagle Farm Airport expansion. More heavy industry moved into the suburb. The War Memorial remains a vestige of the earlier more residential character of the area. [1]

Description

The monument stands on a small, grassed triangular portion of road reserve at the corner of Eagle Farm and McBride Roads, Pinkenba. Approximately 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) high, it stands within a grassed area defined by a white painted concrete curb supporting a fence of hollow metal poles linked by metal chain. A flagstaff stands to the north within the fenced area. [1]

The bronze memorial is supported on a plinth of cast rusticated-finish concrete blocks. A pedestal, similar in form to the base of a truncated obelisk comprising beaten panels with a Doric column at each corner sits on top of the plinth. It supports a square platform surmounted by a small dome. An upright artillery shell, hung with a frail bronze wreath, projects from the dome. [1]

South Panel with the names of the fallen Pinkenba War Memorial 06.jpg
South Panel with the names of the fallen

The sides of the pedestal bear the memorial inscription and the names of the enlisted and fallen. The panel to the north bears the inscription in relief lettering; the south panel contains the names of the fallen, each an individual name plate within a decorative honour scroll; the east and west panels contain the individual name plates for the enlisted. [1]

A landscaped area incorporating trees, garden bed and park furniture is situated near the fence of the neighbouring property to the north of the monument area. A seat, picnic table, tap and large, green metal utility box in this area are not of cultural heritage significance. [1]

Heritage listing

Pinkenba War Memorial was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 October 2005 having satisfied the following criteria. [1]

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.

The Pinkenba War Memorial is important in demonstrating part of the pattern of Queensland's history, being associated with the national outpouring of grief at the deaths of about 60,000 Australians during WWI. During an era of strong and widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism most Queensland communities erected a public memorial to honour local participation in the war. Each monument is a unique historical documentary record. [1]

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

The memorial is important in exemplifying many of the elements common to WWI memorials in a form that is unusual for its type. Designed as a tangible place of memory to act as a focus for public mourning in the absence of graves, the memorial displays the names of the enlisted and the dead, it is designed to endure and it is set in an area large enough to accommodate ceremonial occasions. However, the memorial demonstrates a form that is unusual for WWI memorials in that it is composed of an unusual combination of classical and non-traditional elements. [1]

The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Together with its setting, the memorial makes a significant aesthetic contribution to the townscape of Pinkenba. It is visually striking and it is located prominently in a verdant setting. [1]

The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

The memorial is of social and spiritual significance for the local community, having a strong and continuing association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historical event and as the focus for annual remembrance of that event in local Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies. [1]

The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

It is also significant as an example of the work of Ernest Gunderson, the well-known Queensland manufacturer and supplier of honour boards and memorials. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Pinkenba War Memorial (entry 602453)". Queensland Heritage Register . Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. "Pinkenba Heroes". The Telegraph (14, 579). Queensland, Australia. 18 August 1919. p. 5 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 13 January 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  3. "PINKENBA SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL". The Brisbane Courier (19, 213). Queensland, Australia. 18 August 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 13 January 2017 via National Library of Australia.

Attribution

CC-BY-icon-80x15.png This Wikipedia article was originally based on "The Queensland heritage register" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 7 July 2014, archived on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were originally computed from the "Queensland heritage register boundaries" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived on 15 October 2014).

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