Eltham War MemorialPrint Page

The War Memorial commemorates those who have served in the various conflicts in which Australia has been involved.  

It was unveiled on the 3rd August 1919 by His Excellency Sir William Irvine, Lieutenant-Governor and it originally was located at the corner of Main Road and Bridge Street.  It originally commemorated those who died in service or were killed in action during World War One, and the names of those who died in World War Two were added at a later date.

The memorial was moved from its original site to the Eltham RSL in the 1960s, but with the closure of the RSL in 2010, it was moved again to its present location.

Monument characteristics :

A grey granite obelisk on a granite base.

Anyone acquainted with our village in its normal state of slumberous inactivity, not knowing of any reason for its being otherwise, would have wondered why a crowd, estimated at six or seven hundred, should get together last Sunday afternoon in the centre of the township. Every road seemed to be bringing its quota, from far and near, even from the city by special train. On a rocky promontory at a junction of two roads stood an obelisk of granite, fourteen feet in height, erected by a grateful public in memory of those of our local lads who made the supreme sacrifice in the great war. This was the point to which everybody gravitated, and every point of vantage was occupied by folk waiting for the unveiling of the obelisk by His Excellency Sir Wm. Irvine, Lieut.-Governor. At 3 p.m. Chaplain-Captain Rev. C. Tregear, who presided, gave a preliminary address, and after the singing of one or two hymns Sir Wm. Irvine spoke briefly, but very efficiently, and unveiled the base of the memorial, on which were the names of twenty-seven local lads whose bones lie far from their sunny homes in Eltham. Addresses were also given by Rev. T. H. Sapsford and Mr. H. Edwards. At the conclusion of the short but impressive service, a bugler from the Domain Camp sounded that most touching call, "The Last Post." 
Eltham and Whittlesea Shires Advertiser and Diamond Creek Valley Advocate (Vic.), 8th August 1919. 

Location

Details

Dedication