War Memorial GatesPrint Page

The gates were erected to commemorate those who served in World War One. 

Containing 131 names in bronze lettering the Turramurra Soldiers Memorial Gates at the entrance to Turramurra Park are a simple but impressive memorial. They are designed to preserve the names of all residents of Turramurra who enlisted during 1914-1918. No distinction of rank is indicated.  In opening the gates yesterday the Governor (Sir Dudley de Chair) congratulated the people of Turramurra on the form of memorial they had chosen for gates were eminently symbolical.  He said that when the men had left the safety of their daily occupations to follow the call of honour they might be said to have passed through a gate into the unknown, an unknown and unfamiliar world of hardships and danger.

Theirs had been the supreme test of mankind. They had given up all comforts for extreme misery and in doing so had given an example of loyalty and sacrifice that would never be forgotten.  Mr W M Hughes, M.P., said it was as well for the people who came after to know that all the things Australia stood for, the natural ideals which had enabled it to enlist in a high standard of living, were not the gifts of the gods or the common heritage of men but had come to it sanctified by the blood of the men who had fallen in war.  The wealth of nations was not to be measured in material things.  It was of the spirit. Without vision a nation must perish without ideals no people could endure.  

Referring to the men who had been killed in battle, Mr Hughes said that their physical courage had not been enough.  They had believed in the justice of their cause and went to death unafraid fighting for Australia as an integral part of the Empire. In the great body of the A.I.F.,  a great companionship had existed.  What had Australia meant to these men?  Mr Hughes asked. It was an Australia which had always been part and parcel of the national ideals which were becoming the religion of the people. That was an Australia white and free. They had not won by numbers but by courage and character. 
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW),  2 April 1928.

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