User:Peacemaker67/Draft for Dardanelles Memorial, Adelaide

The Dardanelles Memorial was the first memorial erected in Australia to soldiers of World War I. It was designed by Adelaide master builder Walter Torode, and was built using donated labour and materials on a site adjacent to Cohen Avenue (now Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue) in the South Park Lands. It was dedicated by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson on 7 September 1915. Based on the suggestion of Torode, a simple stone cross was placed on top of the obelisk on Anzac Day 1918. Services were conducted at the memorial until the late 1920s, but in the 1930s the site became neglected.

In October 1940 the memorial obelisk was moved to a site in Lundie Gardens near the intersection of South Terrace and West Terrace that had been a training camp during World War I. In 1969, the obelisk was extensively renovated, the cross was replaced, and a bronze plaque affixed to the base acknowledging its unveiling by the Governor-General on Wattle Day 1915. Use of the memorial has re-commenced in recent years, with a service conducted on the nearest weekend to 7 September since 2012.

Inception
On 12 August 1915, Mrs Jeannie Young, the Honorary Secretary of the South Australian Branch of the Wattle Day League wrote to the Town Clerk of the City of Adelaide requesting permission to plant a grove of wattle in the South Park Lands. Her letter credited Mr Walter Torode with the idea of planting the grove to commemorate the landing of Australian troops at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Torode was a member of the Wattle Day League, and a master builder working in the City of Unley, which adjoins the South Park Lands. The intention was to create a place where mothers and relatives of soldiers killed at Gallipoli could lay floral tributes. The proposed design was published in The Advertiser newspaper on 17 August 1915, and the Adelaide City Council approved the proposal on 23 August.

Design and construction
Torode's concept consisted of a central granite obelisk surrounded by a wooden pergola and four trees symbolising the Allies, with a fenced perimeter of 100 golden wattle trees and garden beds planted with native trees and shrubs. The site chosen for the memorial was on the western side of Cohen Avenue (now Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue), which runs through the South Park Lands linking Greenhill Road to South Terrace.

The obelisk was largely built by Torode's employees on a volunteer basis using donated materials, and the work was supervised by Mr J Meinchke of Kapunda. The stone used in the obelisk was Murray Bridge red granite and grey granite from Monarto cut by stonemasons from J.T. Brown. The wattle trees were provided by the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

Dedication and early use
On 7 September 1915, a memorial day was organised by the Wattle Day League at the site. On that day, the Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson, unveiled the obelisk. The Advertiser newspaper quoted him as saying:

"Certainly the Wattle Day League has done much in giving us a national emblem. From the war to Wattle Day a great deal has helped us to strength and unite the national life of Australia. I find it a great honour, representing his Majesty's Australian Forces, to have attended at the ceremony of unveiling this memorial of the landing at Gallipoli, which will ever be a tribute to the gallantry of our troops, to the record they have established, and to the wonderful manner in which they have maintained the tradition of the British Empire."

A further 44 trees and bushes were planted the following year, and guard rails were built to keep cattle grazing in the South Park Lands out of the area. In 1918, at Torode's suggestion, a stone cross was placed on top of the obelisk. On Wattle Day 1919, the South Australian World War I flying ace and aviation pioneer Harry Butler dropped a wattle tree onto the site from an aircraft, and the tree was planted in the grove by the Chief Justice of South Australia, Sir George Murray. As a result of continued plantings, 140 wattle trees eventually surrounded the memorial.