Original Memorial
(courtesy Battye Library)
New Memorial
Broome
Original Memorial
(courtesy Battye Library)
New Memorial
Memorial to the victims of Japanese air raids
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Two parts and the Roll of Honour from old Memorial
75mm German Field Gun (wheels not original)
Established in the 1880s after the discovery of rich pearling grounds off shore, Broome,2240kms.North of Perth, was for many years the World's main source of natural pearls and pearl shell; an industry that disappeared post WW2 with the advent of the cultured pearl and plastic button. Subsequently a cultured pearl industry evolved and Broome started to acquire a reputation as a holiday destination for national and international tourists. Today the town supports a population of some 9000 persons plus numerous Hotels, caravan parks and resturants for visitors. The Great War of 1914 to 1918 claimed the lives of fiftyseven Broome men and to honour their memory a 'Fallen Soldiers Memorial Committee' was established in 1920 to decide upon a suitable Memorial and to organise the collection of funds from the public. The final choice, made by the Committee in November,1920,was to be an ornately carved spire of Donnybrook stone on a granite base some thirtyfive feet tall ( 11 metres) at an estimated cost of £1000/-; by mid-December 1920 the Broome Echo reported that subscriptions to the value of £360/10/2d. had been received including a sum of £157/7/2 from the Broome RSL. At this time the Committee applied to the State War Trophy Committee for an item of German weaponry to mount alongside the Memorial, a machinegun was offered but rejected on the grounds that the weapon was inadequate for a memorial that was to be "one of the finest in the State", Eventually a 75mm Krupps field gun was supplied. Mr. R. Arnott, Builder of Perth was commissioned to build the Memorial to a design by Marshall Clifton* (Architect, 1903-75)which was to be in several sections with each section to be kept in position, one upon the other, by internal steel rods. Mr.Arnott was already engaged on the building of the General Post Office, Perth and the Memorial was constructed in the same yard that the Donnybrook stone for the Post Office was prepared. The completed Memorial arrived in Broome in the latter half of 1921, Col. Mansbridge, Broome Magistrate, performed the unveiling ceremony in Bedford Park on New Years Day, 1922 with the Dampier Brass Band in attendance. During the following years the internal steel rods rusted to the point that by the 1980s the structure was declared unsafe and the height was reduced by removing the sections between the intermediate cornices, however, rusting of the rods in the remaining sections continued leading to splitting of the stone until, in the 1990s, a Memorial Reconstruction Committee was formed to adress the problem. Their conclusion was that the Memorial was beyond repair and should be replaced by 2m x 1m stela* of polished black granite incised with the names of Broome men who gave their lives in WW1 (57), WW2 (7), Vietnam (2). In addition a Memorial to the servicemen and Dutch civilians* who lost their lives in the Japanese air raids of 3rd. and 20th. March,1942 (Dutch 60, British 6, American 19)should be built adjacent to the new Memorial. Both recommendations were accepted and the new Memorials were unveiled in Bedford Park on Anzac Day, 2000; the remains of the old memorial are now housed in the Broome Museum as is the 75mm field gun.
* At this time an employee of the W.A.Public Works Dept.
* Quarried in Derby, weight approx. 10 tonnes
* Three sea planes with evacuees from the Dutch East Indies ( indonesia ), mainly women and children, were just landing in Roebuck Bay on March 3rd. when the Japanese planes struck, all three planes were destroyed and most of the occupants died. Those killed were buried in, the the n, town cemetery at Town Beach. Subsequently the bodies were reburied in the Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth or returned to their own countries. Today, Town Beach Cemetery is a public park within which is a brass plaque recording these facts.
