Woodford War Memorial PavilionPrint Page

The Memorial Pavilion was originally erected in memory of those from the district who served in World War One. The monument was constructed in 1920 by a local builder and stonemason Thomas Owen Thomas.  The names of those who served in World War Two were added at a later date. The original memorial contained a captured German machine gun. 

Monument Characteristics: 
The war memorial is a square pavilion with an intersecting gabled roof. The roof is supported on stone piers with brick cappings. A rockfaced stone balastrade with bullnose brick cappings spans between the piers. On the north side a terrazzo stair with stone spandrels and bullnosed brick capping provides access to the shelter. The base of the pavilion is of tapered rockfaced sandstone.

In the centre of the pavilion is a rockfaced sandstone monument with tapered sides. Marble plaques at the base commemorate World War One, and granite plaques commemorate World War Two.

The people of Woodford are justly proud of the manner in which they have transformed that stretch of waste land, between the Great Western-road and the railway, into a public reserve, the enclosure, with its fine concrete wall, being indeed a striking feature on the main artery to the west. Some day, when the full scheme of beautification and improvement is realised, Woodford will possess a beauty spot that will be a credit to the district and a joy to the numberless tourists who motor by. On it they have erected a memorial to the diggers who enlisted from the district, and for the purpose of unveiling the memorial chose Anzac Day, Professor Sir Edgeworth David being asked to perform the ceremony.  Notwithstanding that the weather was misty and uncomfortable, the people turned out in force. By doing so they not only paid fitting tribute to the memory of the day, but proved the existence of a proper civic spirit.

The memorial, which is of white free stone, bearing marble tablets containing an inscription and bearing the names of Woodford enlistments, is surmounted by a machine gun, the whole being contained in a pavilion. Outside the interest that naturally attaches to the names of those who saw, and did their duty, aye, and died for it, the machine gun is in itself a testimony to the prowess and devotion not only of the A.I.F. generally, but is doubly interesting from the fact that one of  Woodford's diggers was present at the battle at which it was captured. The ceremony, owing largely to the inclemency of the weather, was curtailed to some extent, Sir Edgeworth David performing it with due fittingness and solemnity.  On one of the slabs of the memorial was the inscription, "To those, who for King and Empire, enlisted from this village for service in the Great War, 1914-19." On another are the names of the dead, viz., C. H. Dakin, C. Fiddling, J. Fiddling, J. Wheeler. Underneath this is inscribed, "How Sleep the Brave." The third panel holds the names of D. W. Cameron, C. Cooper, B. Crompton, W. E. David, J. L. Bray (?), C. B. Haines, L. Haines, A. P. Holdup and A. G. Hume, and on the fourth, W. H. Tombs, F. Ware, S. Wheeler, A. Wood, C. Wood, E. K. S. Bowden and F. Wheeler. An inscription also points to the fact that the machine gun was captured on the Somme on August 8, 1918. 
Blue Mountain Echo (NSW), 5 May 1922.

Location

Details

Dedication