SYDNEY’S CENOTAPH

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6630, 8 June 1928, Page 9

SYDNEY’S CENOTAPH

IN THE WHIRL OF TRAFFIC. QUIETER, SPOT SUGGESTED. SYDNEY, May 31. One of Sydney’s leading military men, in a speech tho other day, had the courage to express the sentiments of not a few in the community, by sunggesting that the Cenotaph should bo removed from the whirl of traffic in Martin Place, in tho heart of the city, to a quieter spot where it would be likely to command more respect. The complaint has been made that citizens, while very ready to remove thoir hats in lifts, fail to bare their heads when passing this monument to the heroic ‘dead, as they do when passing tho Cenotaph in London. As a matter of fact, this is not out of a lack of reverence or respect for the dead. Tho Cenotaph, amid the confluence of all the human tides, that sweep and surge past it in a feverishly busy city, is in the wrong place. The same mistake is not to be perpetuated when the groat national shrine, in the form of a soldiers memorial, is erected Within the next few years. It will grace Hyde Park or one of tho other big open spaces. Architecturally, the shrine promises to bo one of the most imposing pieces of commemorative art in Australia. Tho competition for the best design will be opened shortly to Australian and New Zealand architects. In broad outline, tho shrine will be along the line of the historic Scottish national shrine in Edinburgh.