Our guest speaker will be Dr Ian Hoskins, Council Historian with his topic: "In Memory of the Glorious Dead".
Everyone is welcome to join us to hear North Sydney's Council Historian speak on the ‘In Memory of the Glorious Dead’: The First World War Memorials of North Sydney
The residents of North Sydney were patriotic supporters of Australia’s involvement in the First World War. In the 1916 referendum on conscription more than twice as many local voters said ‘Yes’, than ‘No’. That was largest pro-conscription vote in NSW, a state which overall decided against compulsory service. Such patriotism may explain the funding and construction of the nation’s largest cenotaph in St Leonards Park ‘In Memory of the Glorious Dead Who Fell in the Great War 1914-1919’. This year is the centenary of the dedication of the North Sydney Cenotaph.
In this illustrated talk Council Historian Ian Hoskins will discuss the Cenotaph and other Great War memorials in North Sydney. Among these are the statue and remarkable pictorial honour roll created by North Sydney Tram Depot workers, who only two years earlier had taken part on the Great Strike of 1917 which threatened to cripple the war effort. It was a fascinating case of class consciousness sitting side by side with patriotism without apparent contradiction.