Australasian Soldiers Dardanelles MemorialPrint Page

The Memorial was originally built by the Wattle Day League in Wattle Grove, Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue and commemorates the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in the Dardanelles, especially the landings of the ANZAC troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25 1915.

The memorial was funded by public subscription and unveiled on "Wattle Day" 7th September 1915. It was the first memorial to World War One soldiers erected in Australia.  Wattle Day had been initiated as an alternative day of national pride and celebration, instead of 26 January. A grove of wattle trees, with many varieties so that one or other would always be flowering, was laid out around the memorial obelisk. Connecting the memorial with Wattle Day is early evidence of how Gallipoli became associated with Australian national identity. Removed to Lundie Gardens in October 1940, it was relocated to ANZAC Centenary Memorial Walk on Kintore Avenue, Adelaide (adjacent to the Pathway of Honour), and re-dedicated on the 11th November 2018. 

Wattle Day was celebrated in South Australia on Tuesday when ideal spring weather prevailed. The public buildings, city statues railway locomotives and almost all the vehicles were decorated, and the people in the streets displayed sprigs of wattle or badges. The Governor-General and Lady Helen Munro Ferguson attended the proceedings. In the afternoon a distinguished gathering assembled in Wattle Grove situated in the south park lands, where the Governor-General unveiled a granite obelisk erected to commemorate the landing of the Australians at Gallipoli. In doing so His Excellency made a happy speech in which he paid a fine tribute to the late General Bridges.
The Argus (Melbourne), 8th September 1915.

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