Erina District War Memorial

Story

Author: Merril Jackson OAM

Posted on 5 June 2019

The Erina District War Memorial was erected in recognition of the loss of men from the Erina District during the Great War 1914-1918, an area including the localities of Erina, Matcham, Wamberal and Terrigal. Public funding raised throughout the Erina districts enabled the establishment of a war monument at the junction of Wamberal and Terrigal Roads (Central Coast Highway and Terrigal Drive), located nearby the hilltop, St Phillip Anglican Church. A large pine tree remains the only visible sign of the war monument’s former location. The erection of the Erina District War Memorial also enabled the procurement of captured German War Trophies as allocated by the NSW War Trophy Board. The war monument’s location at this major crossroad junction was a public landmark, a sacred site for daily remembrance, a memorial prominently sited to acknowledge the loss of local lads from the Erina District who voluntarily answered the call of King and Country during the Great War.

From 1921, two local school headmasters of Erina District, Walter Herbert Weiss of Erina Public School, and George Anderson Walpole (Committee Secretary) of Woodport Public School headed the local War Memorial Committee, working tirelessly to erect a public memorial for the local men of the Erina Shire District. As headmasters of the Erina District, these two committee men were well-acquainted with the young men having enlisted. Weiss understood the full impact of the Great War, having had three sons enlist, with two sons killed during the Great War.

Local architect, Richard Shute of Point Clare designed the memorial, William Adams & Co., Ltd., engineers and machinery manufacturers of Sydney, altered Shute’s designs to accommodate the use of reinforced concrete, with plaster and concreter, James George Martin of Erina, responsible for the memorial’s construction.

Note: The misnomer usage of ‘Armistice’ in the title of Erina District War Memorial appears to be used since relocation to Terrigal, having been the name featured during plans for relocation in 2018, and having appeared incorrectly in a one­time text reference during 1997, ‘Every Mothers Son’ by Michael Rooksberry. The correct and accurate title is ‘Erina District War Memorial’.