Pyrmont & Ultimo War MemorialPrint Page

The War Memorial consists of a Winged Victory figure and was erected in honour of the men of Pyrmont and Ultimo who served in The Great War.

During 1917 a group of Pyrmont and Ultimo residents successfully sought permission from the Council of the City of Sydney to build a memorial to the men of the district who had enlisted in the AIF. The memorial was to be located in a garden at the intersection of Harris and Union Streets.

The monument was paid for by the Pyrmont and Ultimo Roll of Honour Fund, which was also responsible for calling for tenders for the design. As with other privately sponsored monuments and memorials in the City, the Council reserved the right of final approval for the design.

The Fund and the Council both approved a design submitted by Gilbert Doble in 1919. In August 1921, the City Surveyor reported that the circular ‘dwarf’ wall around the memorial had been completed and that the space between the wall and pedestal was to be filled with soil and turfed. Council spent approximately £100 on these improvements at the memorial’s base.

The erection of the statue was finished towards the end of 1921. On 21 February the following year, the City Surveyor reported that the memorial had been completed.

The War Memorial was unveiled on 8 April, 1922, by the then State Governor, Sir Walter Davidson. It had taken five years to assemble the community funding for this memorial, a fact which was taken at the time as indicative of the poverty of the district. Pyrmont had developed as an industrial and warehouse suburb through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was an overwhelmingly working class area of Sydney.

Impressive solemnity marked the unveiling of a beautiful war memorial which has been erected at the intersection of Harris and Union streets, Pyrmont, on Saturday afternoon. Pyrmont and Ultimo are probably one of the poorest districts of the metropolis, but what is lacking in material wealth is more than outweighed by the loyalty and patriotism of its people. Over 760 men enlisted from this district during the war, 150 of them dying on active service. The fine monument was unveiled on Saturday by the Governor, Sir Walter Davidson. It has taken the committee a long time to complete their work, for it is over five years ago since the campaign for funds was launched, but the achievement bas been none the less gratifying.

There were few large contributions and the balance of the money - over £1000 - was collected in small coins by the school children and by a house-to-house canvas. The monument is a symbolisatlon of Peace, supporting a shield on which is inscribed the words "Their name liveth forever." The base is of trachyte on a stone foundation. It is 18 feet high and is situated in a commanding position. The memorial was the work of Mr. Gilbert Doble. At the base of the monument many wreaths were laid by the relatives of fallen soldiers.
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), 10 April 1922.

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