Artwork Description
At the busy junction of Elizabeth St and Kellick St, in the heart of Waterloo, nestles the Tobruk Reserve – a tiny place of peace and reflection. In the centre of the reserve, surrounded by landscaped gardens, stands the Waterloo World War II Memorial.
This red granite memorial pillar stands on a simple square plinth set into a circular stone base. It is protected by a corniced sandstone roof supported by four sandstone columns. The pillar is adorned on two sides by granite and sandstone vases.
Copper plaques are fixed to three sides of the memorial pillar, listing the names of soldiers lost between 1939 and 1945. On the front face of the pillar is another plaque, with the following inscription:
They whom this memorial commemorates were numbered amongst those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, faced danger and finally passed out of the fight of men by in the path of duty, making self-sacrifice, giving up their lives that we might live in freedom. For those who come after see to it that their Names be not Forgotten.
A plaque on the memorial’s base shows that it was ‘Erected by the Council of the Municipality of Waterloo, M.V. Neilson, Mayor 1947’. A partially obscured inscription on the plinth names the sculptor as F. Arnold.