Bexley R.S.S.I.L.A. Memorial GardenPrint Page

The garden commemorates thiose who died in service or were killed in action in World War One. The garden was dedicated on Coronation Day 1937 and the cairn, which originally contained a bird bath, was also unveiled in that year. 

Funding was received in 2015 for the restoration of the garden. 

Bexley Council at this week's meeting adopted a suggestion by the Mayor. (Alderman Barwell) that a "garden of remembrance" be dedicated at the entrance to Kingsgrove Park. A circular garden plot would be set aside for this purpose, and roses would be planted. The garden would be given to the Bexley Returned Soldiers sub-branch, which would plant the trees and care for them. The council will later instal a tablet in the garden. An offer has already been made to the sub-branch concerning the donation of a quantity of rose trees. Trees will be planted on Coronation Day.
Propeller (Hurstville, NSW ), 6 May 1937.

The Bexley Building Inspector (Mr. A. G. Baker) has designed a memorial monument to be erected by Bexley Council in the soldiers' memorial rose garden at the entrance to the new Kingsgrove Park. The monument will stand five feet high with a square base of six feet. It will be four-sided, the base sections being of ashler sand stone and the cairn of random rubble, to be surmounted by a neat bird bath, standing on four short pillars. In the centre of the main front panel will be a black vitrolitc tablet, presented by the Mayor of Bexley (Alderman J. T. Barwell). The inscription will read "R.S.S.I.L. of A., Bexley Sub-branch, this garden was dedicated by the Bexley Municipal Council in memory of deceased comrades who fought in the Great War, 1914-18. We will remember them." It will be dated May 12, 1937, Coronation Day, when the garden was dedicated. Turfing will be planted around the monument, and Flanders poppies are to be planted in flower boxes in the sandstone, together with ornamental shrubs. The memorial is being placed in the park by the council, in conjunction with the Bexley sub-branch.
Propeller (Hurstville, NSW), 18 November 1937.

Considerable indignation has been caused in Bexley by the desecration of the soldiers' memorial rose garden at the entrance to Kingsgrove Park. Over a dozen rose trees have been stolen from the garden, and an appeal has been made by the Bexley Returned Sailors and Soldiers' sub branch for the trees to be re-planted. This rose plot was dedicated in memory of fallen soldiers on Coronation Day last year by the then Mayor of Bexley (Alderman Barwell). Sub-branch members planted the rose trees in the plot, which was named "The Garden of Memory." Last ANZAC Day the Mayor of Bexley (Alderman Spanswick) unveiled a memorial cairn in the centre of the rose plot as a gift from Bexley Council. A fence was erected around the area to keep animals out, but it was expected that people would have sufficient respect to keep out of this area.
Propeller (Hurstville, NSW), 23 June 1938.

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Dedication