Tambar Springs War MemorialPrint Page

An obelisk commemorates those who served in World War One.  It is made of Italian marble surmounted by a marble sculpture of a young soldier. It was restored and rededicated in 2003. A plaque was added in 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice and 100 years since the completion of the memorial in 1918.

The application for the monument was lodged after a public meeting on March 3, 1917, 20 months before the Armistice occured.  The impetus for a fund-raising appeal is understood to have come from a Premer district farmer, whose son, aged 17, was one of the casualties. The Italian marble memorial was erected in December 1918, a month after war's end, and officially opened in January 1919.  It was said to have been the first memorial to World War One servicemen erected in New South Wales and possibly even in Australia. Of the 92 soldiers whose names are etched on the memorial, 14 were killed in action. 

Tambar Springs village was a very busy scene on Friday January 31, when large numbers of people of the local and surrounding districts attended at the unveiling of the handsome monument erected to the memory of the soldiers who enlisted from Tambar Springs and served in the Great War. The memorial is of Italian marble solidly erected on a 4ft. reinforced concrete foundation. The figure, with downcast eyes and resting easy, is 5ft. 6in. high. As the order was placed in the sculptor`s hands during the earliest stages of the war the cost of the work was £245, but when completed it is estimated to cost approximately £300. It stands in a commanding position on a small allotment in a central position in the village, which was purchased by the memorial committee, of which Mr. Howard is president, and Mr. Thomas Turner is secretary.

Ninety-one names are engraved on the stone in the order in which the men enlisted, and the letter K following the name denotes that he has paid the supreme sacrifice. It was intended that Mr. W. G. Ashford should perform the unveiling ceremony, but on account of the influenza in Sydney he was unable to keep his appointment, and Mr. G. H. Higgins (president of Liverpool Plains Repatriation Committee) substituted the Minister.
Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW),  
13 February 1919 & 27 March 1919. 

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Dedication