Breakfast Point War MemorialPrint Page

The Breakfast Point War Memorial replaces the original war memorial unveiled 1926 which was located at the Tennyson Road entrance to the former Australian Gas Light Company (AG) Mortlake Gasworks. The memorial commemorates employees who served in World War One and World War Two.

The original memorial tablet was erected in memory of employees who died in service or were killed in action during World War One. The new memorial was unveiled on 13 November 2010. The re-dedication was performed by Her Excellency the Governor, Professor Marie Bashir.

The former gasworks area has undergone remediation and significant redevelopment to accommodate the Breakfast Point residential development by the Rose Property Group (Rosecorp). The first residents moved into the area in 2002 and a Community Association (CA) was formed to manage the common areas of the development. The Group decided to seek replacement of the lost memorial and Rosecorp offered to fund the project. At the following AGM of the Community Association unanimous approval was given to the design and construction of the replacement War Memorial at The Oval.

Adjacent to a flagstaff at the highest point of the development, the memorial is formed on a sandstone base with three bronze plaques. All three plaques were on the original memorial which was located at the works entrance. The largest and original plaque is in memory of the 45 employees who lost their lives in the Great War. The second plaque, originally attached to the plinth of the Great War memorial, is dedicated to all those employees who served in World War Two. No names are listed on this plaque however AGL acknowledged the service of their men and women in World War Two with this and also a memorial on the Remembrance Driveway at Sutton Forest on the highway to Canberra. The third and smallest of the plaques records the unveiling of the Great War Memorial by the then Governor of NSW in 1926.

Sir Dudley de Chair, the State Governor, yesterday unveiled a tablet at the works of the Australian Gaslight Co.at Mortlake that has been erected by the company and its employees to the memory of 43 men from the Mortlake Gasworks who fell in the war. The Governor, attended by Mr. M. E. Penfold (Private Secretary), was received by Mr. G. J. Cohen (chairman of directors), Mr A. Wilson (general manager and secretary), Mr. Williams (assistant secretary), and a large proportion of the 1300 men employed at the works attended the function. Mr. Cohen expressed pleasure at the Governor's visit, and stated that 340 employees, of the Mortlake works had engaged in the war. Mr. Slattery, representative of the Gas Employees' Union, also welcomed the Governor. Sir Dudley de Chair said he was pleased to assist in doing honor to the men who had fallen in battle. Those who had engaged in and been fortunate to come through the war well knew what the Empire owed the men who had fought. He was glad that the initiative in so worthy a movement to perpetuate the memory of the fallen men by the erection of that tablet had come from the management, as by it there was created a bond between employer and employee that would be hard to break. The Governor was entertained at luncheon and afterwards inspected the huge gasworks. 
Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 27 August 1926.

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