ANZAC MEMORIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 174, 25 July 1932, Page 3

ANZAC MEMORIAL.

MAGNIFICENT BUILDING. EIGHT STOREYS HIGH. CATHOLICS' PROTEST. STATUARY DEEMED OFFENSIVE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 21. On Tuesday, in the presence of a groat concourse of citizens, ex-soldiers and representative men, the foundation stone of the Anzae Memorial was solemnly consecrated in Hyde Park. It was on Ansae Day, 1010. that the project of .vmimemorating the offering of Australia's life blood at G-allipoli by a great memorial was first suggested. A "hall of fame' , was proposed, and the site originally • fixed upon was Observatory Hill, but the bridge, with the resounding roar of its traffic, rendered this locality unsuitable, and Hyde Park presented liie best alternative. Over 70,000 has already been subscribed for the purpose rikl designs were invited from Australian sculptors and architects throughout the world. The successful design was the work of Mr. C. Bruce Dellitt, of Sydney, and it is this design, as modified and adapted for the new site by the sculptor, Mr. Rayncr Hoff, of the X.S.W. Technical College, which is now being adopted. Few people seem yet to have any idea (if the magnitude of the proposed structure. The building is to be 100 ft high by loOft long and 95ft broad. It will be as lofty and massive as an average eight-storeyed city building, and its ■summit will be only 20ft lower than the parapet of the great T. and G. building on the other side of Elizabeth Street. The whole memorial will be faced with iight red unpolished granite, the interior will be in white marble, and all the materials employed are to be Australian. Decorative Sculpture. Naturally decorative sculpture is an important feature of the memorial. The sculpture is to cost in all £12,000, but hick of funds has compelled the abandonment of some portions of the statuary, which, already modelled in clay, have still to be caet in bronze. Sixteen utatues greater than life size will adorn buttresses along the facade, (iOft from the ground, representing all the various units that made tip the Australian Imperial Forces during the war. Large bronze reliefs over the doorways, sculptured panels ,in white marble in the interior, a hall of memory 95ft in height and the well of contemplation, 20ft in diameter, are to be among the distinctive features of this impressive structure. But regard for aesthetic values has not induced forgetfulnesa of the utilitarian possibilities of the memorial, and fcpart from the archives room, where in fiiitable volumes the names of Australia's soldiers and sailors are to be inscribed, the building will contain accommodation for returned sailors and soldiers' associations and the organisations formed by invalided and wounded survivors of the Great War. At Tuesday's ceremonial one foundation stone was laid by the Governor, ,i ? representative of the soldiers and the Crown; a second was laid by the Prei.iier, as representing the citizens, and Lord Mayor Walder presided, as the iirst citizen of Sydney, representing the subscribers. The speeches were worthy of the occasion, and the memorial wae inaugurated in an atmosphere of devotion consonant with the prayer offered by the senior chaplain of the Australian Military Forces, that "the spirit of service and self-sacrifice shown in the war might flourish in the days of peace." Archbishop's Protest. Unfortunately one jarring note had •teen struck already, introducing an element of discord into the harmonies of prayer and peace. Archbishop Sheehan, speaking for the Roman Catholic Church, of Sydney, had declined the invitation rf the Anzac Memorial trustees to participate in this solemn function. He -ave two reasons; first that the service, ■\f which details had been furnished, -cmed to be distinctively Protestant in character; second, that the group of statuary entitled "The Crucifixion of iCivilisation," which is to be included ; ;i the ■ memorial, suggests to his mind • a travesty of the Redemption" and is ";rravely offensive to Christian decency." This outspoken letter and the absence of representatives of the Catholic Church from the ceremony to some extent marred the good feeling that such an occasion might have made universal, and the newspaper controversy that has ensued has hardly improved the situation. It is, of course, open to Protestants to say that they can see nothing objectionable either in the service or the statuary, and that they cannot imagine why Archbishop Sheehan should have littered such a protest. The trustees in their reply to the archbishop point out that the prescribed ceremony was precisely similar to that carried out in the dedication of the Cenotaph in Martin Place, and they further suggest that "the comment upon the sculpture will, on further investigation, be found to be based .upon misconceptions." Law of the Church. Aβ to this last point, there is much to be said on the other side. The archbishop objects to the main figure in the group — that of a nude woman outstretched upon a cross, surmounting a number of dead and dying soldiers. It seems to me that many people might quite naturally find themselves sharing Archbishop Sheehan's scruples and objections. Father O'Donnell, the archbishop's secretary, subsequently pointed out that, since the days of Constantine, it had.been a law of the Church that no representation of the Crucifixion should be used "except as the true Christian memorial of our Redemption," and that "while a monument of the proposed type goes counter to every Christian instinct of respect for the Redemption, it is made more' objectionable by that nude figure on the cross." This point of view is shared here by at least one Anglican divine. The Rev. Arnold Conolly, of St. John's Church of England, Gordon, said: "The caricature of a nude woman on a cross insults all higher feelings associated with the Redemption and the idea of sacrifice." He considers that "the design of this memorial is highly offensive; it mars the dignity of a sacred symbol and hurts the Christian conscience."