Memory, Commemoration and the Meaning of a Suburban War Memorial

Abstract

War memorials are a significant feature of the Australian landscape. Thousands were erected after the First World War in towns and suburbs across the nation as a community focus for memory, grief, and pride of their soldiers lost in the war. The Victoria Park memorial in Perth, Western Australia, originally constructed in 1917, before the war ended, and replaced in 1957, was a small suburban memorial that was born in the enthusiasm of Empire and the growing concept of Anzac. The biography of this memorial reveals a chequered and contested history typical of many local memorials in Western Australia. Concentrating on the Victoria Park memorial this article seeks to explore the relationships between its physical aspects and setting, its meaning to the community and the linkages between objects and memory.

Metonymic objects, cultural practices and narrative repair: Sri Lankan responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami

“…Similar to war memorials, these personal shrines also functioned as a way by which the bereaved re-member those lost. The portraits acted as a substitute for the material existence of a body, and become a medium for communication between the living and the dead (Stephens, 2007).…”

“…Grieving friends and relatives often seek a physical location and a material entity around which to rebuild a tangible connection with deceased loved ones. A simple touch or trace of the names inscribed on a memorial can have the quality of invoking the memory of those lost (Stephens, 2007). Metonymic objects can become a means through which people learn to live with grief and loss.…”

War remembrance in a sacralized space of memory: The origins and evolution of Volkstrauertag in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

“…Within the broader literature on war memory, 3 there has been a growing volume of works exploring not only how hegemonic metanarratives of memory are expressed at and embodied within individual war memorials (Gordon and Osborne, 2004; Mayo, 1988; Stephens, 2007) but also how the meaning of these sites of memory are contested through transgressive acts and counter-memorials (Gough, 2008; Szpunar, 2010). In addition, some scholars have explored how the relevancy of memorials changes over time with fading memories and shifting values (Johnston and Ripmeester, 2007; Osborne, 1998).…”

Gender, narrative and affect: Top-down politics of commemoration in post-genocide Rwanda

“…My own positionality as an outsider to Rwanda brings an important perspective, as foreign visitors are clearly targeted as key recipients – and possible disseminators – of the memory discourse produced by elite actors. In this methodological process, I treat the monuments as objects that ‘have consequences’ for mnemonic processes (Kwint, 1999), as they develop a biography of their own that different commemorative agendas must engage with (Stephens, 2007: 244). In addition to the reading of the material design and narrative discourse presented at the museums, I have conducted several interviews to access the intentions of mnemonic agents with a stake in the sites.…”