First World War Honour Board is a heritage-listed

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

at the National Australia Bank, 308 Queen Street, in the

Brisbane central business district Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainl ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As a ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

Of the 331,946 Australians who embarked for overseas service, nearly 60,000 did not survive the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Memorials were commissioned by service organisations, shire or city councils and by business groups. Some commemorated those who had died, while others recorded all who had served in the armed forces during the war. This honour board was erected by the

Queensland National Bank The Queensland National Bank is a former bank in Queensland, Australia. History In 1872, the bank was established in Brisbane. In December 1914, the bank had its head office in Brisbane with branches throughout Queensland at Allora, Aramac, A ...

in commemoration of those employees who served during this War. The

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

firm of

Wunderlich Ltd Wunderlich were a brand of decorative metal panels used for pressed metal ceilings and other architectural elements in Australia. History The Wunderlich company was established by Ernest Julius Wunderlich in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in ...

, suppliers of architectural metalwork, manufactured the board. Listed in an oval centrepiece are the names of 115 employees of the Queensland National Bank (now the

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

) who saw service during the war and returned. Around this are the photographs and names of 22 employees who died while on active service. The memorial was unveiled by George Edward Bunning, Chairman of the Queensland National Bank Board on 19 August 1920. It is located to one side of the main entrance of the banking chamber, matched by a less elaborate Wunderlich honour board commemorating service of the bank's employees during the Second World War.

Description

Roll of Honour, Queensland National Bank, Brisbane, August 1920

The honour board is a large bronze panel framed by mouldings and relief ornamentation, with lettering covering the

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

. In the upper corners of the panel are brass and enamelled representations of the Australian Commonwealth flag and of the

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

. In the lower corners are the brass

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

figures of an Australian Infantryman and a

Light Horseman Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily r ...

Heritage listing

First World War Honour Board was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The Honour Board is important in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland's history, being a reflection of a sentiment that saw its expression in the public chronicling of the names of all servicemen. The Honour Board is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a commemorative memorial erected by an employer in honour of employees who saw active service during the First World War and of the elaborate memorial metalwork carried out by Sydney firm Wunderlich Ltd. The Honour Board exhibits in the elaborate art metalwork an aesthetic quality valued by the community.

References

Attribution

External links

{{Commons category-inline, First World War Honour Board, National Australia Bank (308 Queen Street) Queensland Heritage Register Heritage of Brisbane World War I memorials in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register Queen Street, Brisbane Queensland National Bank National Australia Bank