Cenotaph, Dunedin, New Zealand detail top

The Cenotaph in the southern New Zealand city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

stands in the centre of Queen's Gardens, close to the city centre. It is the city's main

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Location and dedication

The cenotaph stands in Queen's Gardens, an open park lying between The Exchange and the

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is a regional history museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its brief covers the territory of the old Otago Province, that is, New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, though its main focus is the city of Dunedin. It i ...

. This location is close to the heart of the city, some south of the city centre,

The Octagon The Octagon may refer to: *The Octagon, Christchurch, a former church in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand *The Octagon, Dunedin, the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand *The Octagon (Egypt), the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of ...

. Dunedin's renovated

Warehouse Precinct The Warehouse Precinct is an urban area of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Sited on reclaimed land at the northernmost tip of the Southern Endowment, it lies between 1 and 2 kilometres south of The Octagon, Dunedin, The Octagon, the city's cen ...

lies immediately to the south. One-way streets which form part of SH 1 flank the gardens on its east and west boundaries. The monument commemorates Dunedin members of New Zealand's armed forces who perished in the First and Second World Wars. A separate standing plaque (formerly situated close to Dunedin Railway Station in Anzac Square) stands close to the cenotaph and lists the names of all of New Zealand's

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

recipients. Several of the trees surrounding the perimeter of Queen's Gardens were planted to remember various war anniversaries, and are accompanied by plaques commemorating these events, and a section of the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum dedicated to New Zealand's participation in the two world wars is also located nearby.

Construction

The monument's design was chosen from 63 entries in a public competition.Dingwall, Richard
The Cenotaph, Queens Gardens (1927)
, Otago Sculpture Trust. Retrieved 12 November 2015. The winning entry was designed by Aucklander

William Gummer William Henry Gummer (7 December 1884 – 13 December 1966) was a New Zealand architect. Gummer was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1884. He studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1909 to 1912 and during that time worked ...

(of the firm of

Gummer and Ford Gummer and Ford was an architectural firm founded in 1923 in Auckland, New Zealand, by William Gummer and Charles Reginald Ford. It was among the country's best-regarded architectural firm of the first half of the 20th century, designing numer ...

), who also designed several other memorials, most notably the

Bridge of Remembrance The Bridge of Remembrance is one of two main war memorials in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is dedicated to those who died in World War I, and serves as a memorial for those who participated in two World Wars as well as subsequent conflicts in ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

.Cenotaph in Queen's Gardens
, Dunedin City Council. Retrieved 12 November 2015. The monument is built from concrete with a facing of

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

, and was conceived by Gummer as a tall eight-sided column, this design reflecting Dunedin's octagonal city centre and being appropriate for an irregularly shaped site, and is topped by a symbolic beacon. From the central column, a sacrificial urn and four crosses emerge, representing sacrifice. These, along with a relief frieze on the base featuring a lion, torches, laurel wreathes, and

fasces Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...

, were designed by sculptor

Richard Oliver Gross Richard Oliver Gross (10 January 1882 – 27 December 1964) was a New Zealand farmer and sculptor. He was born in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, on 10 January 1882. He moved to New Zealand in 1914. Gross sculpted the following work ...

. The original intention was for a bronze frieze to surround the base, but a funding shortfall forced this to be abandoned. The foundation stone was laid by Dunedin mayor

Harold Livingstone Tapley Harold Livingstone Tapley (25 January 1875 – 21 December 1932) was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party. Born in Semaphore, South Australia in 1875, Tapley emigrated to Dunedin in 1893. He represented Dunedin North in Parliament ...

in 1924. Several historic documents were placed in a capsule under the stone, including histories of the military in Otago and copies of current newspapers. The finished memorial was unveiled on 17 March 1927 by Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) in a ceremony attended by 1,000 relatives of the fallen and 800 returned servicemen, along with many members of the general public. Initially known as "The Citizens' Memorial", it rapidly became known as The Cenotaph (echoing the name of Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

' monument in Whitehall, London) despite not being of the classic "empty tomb" design normally used for structures of this name. A plaque commemorating the fallen of World War Two was added to the memorial at the conclusion of that conflict.

Use and recent history

The cenotaph is the regular venue of Dunedin's

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...

commemorations, which often attract several thousand members of the public. On 25 April 2015, the centennial commemoration of Anzac Day, a record crowd estimated at close to 20,000 people attended the dawn commemoration service at the cenotaph.Video: Dunedin's 'record' Anzac Day turnout
''3news.co.nz'', 25 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015. The cenotaph has a

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

Category II classification. In the wake of the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, seismic assessments have been made of many New Zealand buildings and monuments. Assessment of the cenotaph has recommended several measures to strengthen the memorial's structure, and the Dunedin City Council plans to accompany these measures with an assessment of other possible improvements to the Queen's Gardens area.Dunedin Queen's Gardens and Cenotaph Renovation
, ''ww100.govt.nz'', 11 May 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.

References

External links

{{coord, 45.8776, S, 170.5044, E, type:landmark_region:NZ-OTA, display=title

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

World War I memorials in New Zealand World War II memorials in New Zealand 1927 sculptures 1927 in New Zealand 1920s architecture in New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Otago Cenotaphs in New Zealand Gummer and Ford buildings and structures Central Dunedin