Talk:National War Memorial (South Australia)

1924 Competition
Currently I've stated that the 1924 competition was open to South Australian British citizens only. This is in keeping with most of the sources - Inglis, Veterans Affairs and Cameron. However, Richardson in his 1998 report (not the 1998 Advertiser article) states that the 1924 competition was open to British citizens, but doesn't state that they need to be South Australian. I'm looking at Richardson as the primary authority (there was a significant error in Inglis, who said that there were three competitions, and I'm not inclined to give the other two as much weight), but I've gone with the majority and stated that the 1924 competition was only open to South Australians. I'd love it if someone can clarify this for me in case I've stuffed up, though. - Bilby (talk) 16:26, 10 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I haven't access to any additional sources to conclude on way or the other, but I'd agree you've taken the correct approach. As an aside, I'm delighted to see your efforts turn to this article following your work in returning the Shrine of Remembrance to featured standard. This article was really only a rudimentary piece created for Anzac Day, so it's nice to see it padded out.--cj | talk 04:12, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I'll leave it as it is, then. I suspect Richardson may simply have brushed over the 1924 rules, as they don't end up being overly significant given the fire. I'm glad to be working on this - I felt a tad funny about working on a Victorian memorial before I worked on the local one, (not that is really an issue, of course, but the whole interstate rivalry thing must be given airtime) so I promised myself that I'd do this next while I still had some of the sources on hand. And then I was pleasantly surprised to see that you had already started it, so I had something to work from. I don't have many refs, simply because there aren't that many around, but I figure that GA should be easy, with featured being possible if the sources are deemed sufficient. - Bilby (talk) 04:35, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Problem solved - I was able to get access to the 1924 competition rules at the State Library, and it confirmed that the '24 contest was restricted to SA residents. It also provided a location for the memorial, which is counter to my reading of Richardson. I've corrected the article accordingly. - Bilby (talk) 18:08, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Disambiguation tag
I appreciate that the memorial honours all South Australians killed in the war, not just people from Adelaide. But it's located in Adelaide, and that's more germane to how it's disambiguated than whom it is honouring, I think. People wishing to visit it need to know they have to go to Adelaide specifically, not just anywhere in SA. Should we not move it to National War Memorial (Adelaide)? --  Jack of Oz   [Talk]  01:05, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm not overly worried either way. Technically, it was intended as the South Australian National War Memorial, as opposed to being focused on Adelaide (unlike the various regional memorials), so the current title can be read as the (South AUstralian) National War Memorial, which is how I always interpreted it, but being clearer on location also makes some sense. - Bilby (talk) 09:11, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Building, restoration etc.
I worked on the memorial during it's restoration in 2001 and have photographs I took of the interior. Not the room but of the foundation space under the pool and the interior of the arch. These photos are of interest as these areas are not normally accessible (according to the caretaker who has looked after the site since WWII, I was actually the first person to enter the top of the arch since he'd been there). Inside the arch, the construction workers had carved their names, addresses and the period they worked on the memorial. I will have a look for the photos and upload a few to commons when I have time. One item not mentioned in the article that I think may be relevant is the coin on the south-west face. Considering the effort many people make trying to remove it I would think it deserves a mention. The following is general information of interest only rather than something for the article. The interior of the arch was fitted with light bulbs and it was discovered that they were connected to the memorial lighting so that they were lit whenever the memorial room lights were on. Almost all the bulbs, which were standard household bulbs, still worked after 70 years of daily use. In the foundation space we found that all the 1928 wooden formwork for the concrete was still in place. When the concrete foundations and supporting columns were tested it was found that the concrete had deteriorated to the extent that, in the words of the testing engineer, it was of "comparable strength to that of a concrete path a home handyman would lay in his backyard." The bottom of the pool was also the roof of the foundation space and that concrete had become porous and there was considerable leaking. Apparently, if the foundations had not been restored the entire building would likely have collapsed within a few years. Both my father and grandfather worked on the memorial as employees of Tilletts. Wayne (talk) 07:58, 11 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Hi Wayne. Photos of the interior are tremendously exciting. :) - Bilby (talk) 23:30, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
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I have just modified 3 external links on National War Memorial (South Australia). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090101002552/http://www.dva.gov.au/sa_nt/commemoration/memorials/sanwm.htm to http://www.dva.gov.au/sa_nt/commemoration/memorials/sanwm.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080719230650/http://www.postcards.sa.com.au/features/war_memorial.html to http://www.postcards.sa.com.au/features/war_memorial.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130901000522/http://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/sights/south-australian-national-war-memorial to http://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/sights/south-australian-national-war-memorial

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