King George V Print Page

The King George Memorial was commissioned in 1936 by the Commonwealth Government following the death of King George V. In addition to being the King of Australia, George V, as the then Duke of York, had opened the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne in 1901.

The King George V Memorial is a substantial Canberra example of a place which tangibly reflects the importance of the Australian Head of State within the Australian system of government.

The Governor-General (Sir William McKell) will unveil the National Memorial to King George V in front of Parliament House next Wednesday— 17 years after his death. An official Government statement today recalls that the designer, Rayner Hoff, has been dead for 16 years, and the modeller John Edward Moorfield died eight years ago. The granite and freestone base of the monument was finished in 1941, and in the following year plaster casts of the 14 ft. 9 in. statue of the King and the medallions for the base of the memorial were completed.

However, World War II made it impossible to send the models to England for casting. The last of the castings did not reach Canberra until the end of last year. As well as the bronze statue of King George V., there is an equestrian figure of St. George in stone. The pylon carries low-relief medallions of the founders of Federation and figures typifying Australia's part in World War I.— the Duke and Duchess of York, Sir Henry Parkes, Sir Samuel Griffith, Sir Edmund Barton, a nurse, a sailor, an airman, a soldier and the Imperial Crown.
The Advertiser (Adelaide), 26th February 1953.

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