For 100 years now the Kew War Memorial has stood serenely at the eastern approach to Kew Junction.
It's a solemn circle of neo-classical grace amid the everyday bustle of a modern suburb.
The photo above shows the extraordinary day the memorial was unveiled. More than 5,000 crowded the junction of Cotham Road and High Street on 30 August 1925. They were there to mark a devastating war and remember the sons, husbands, brothers and friends who never returned.
More than 60,000 Australians were killed in World War I, and their bodies remain buried overseas.
At the unveiling, Victorian Governor, the Earl of Stradbroke, noted that the 753 Kew citizens who went to war made up roughly one-fifth of all the men eligible to go. And of those who went, roughly one-fifth - 163 - did not return. All those who went to war are named on the memorial.
'Like other memorials, it was located in a prominent position in the locality,' says Kew Historical Society archivist Robert Baker.
'Whereas many memorials are located in parks, the Kew Memorial was located in the most central position in Kew, in front of the Kew Post Office.
'Unusually, at least within Boroondara, the design for the cenotaph was in a neo-classical style rather than the more popular modernist styles of the memorials in say Hawthorn or Balwyn.'
Suggestions for a triumphal arch, colonnade or memorial hall were considered and abandoned by a Kew Council war memorial committee.
The chosen design was by architect and former mayor Harry W. Tompkins, who with his brother Frank had designed the Myer department store and Herald and Weekly Times building on Flinders Street. Council funds paid for the memorial.
Robert says the cenotaph remains a focus of remembrance of war in Kew with Anzac Day services drawing a local community audience.
Counting the losses
World War I left a heavy mark on the suburbs of Boroondara. From the Cities of Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew 4,786 residents served overseas between 1914 and 1918. A total of 601 died in service.
War memorials
After the war, memorials appeared in almost every Australian town. They included cenotaphs, obelisks and avenues of honour.
Soldier marked a century on
The name of a soldier killed at Gallipoli was added to the Kew War Memorial in 2023, 108 years after his death. Private William Charles Baggarley migrated to Australia from England in 1914, staying with relatives in Kew before enlisting with the Australian Army. He was killed in action on 7 August 1915, aged 21, within days of landing on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Dawn services this Anzac Day
In Boroondara Anzac Day is marked by dawn services at several local war memorials. To find out what services are happening near you visit our Anzac Day page.
