Parramatta’s Memorial to Their World War One Soldiers – The Prince Alfred Park Memorial

Prince Alfred Park Soldiers' Memorial, Parramatta.
Photo - Peter Arfanis

Following the end of the Great War thousands of memorials were erected in suburbs and country towns across Australia. The world had witnessed death and destruction on a scale never before seen with many Australian families affected by a tragedy, loss, or wounding of a family member. In response communities and government rallied to create memorials to act as focal point for remembering the sacrifices made and to display pride in the soldiers lost in war.

Boer War Memorial, Parramatta Park, 1904, by W. Hanson

Soldiers' Memorial, Parramatta Park, photographer unknown, 1904-1950, Parramatta Heritage Centre, LSOP00438

The Memorial to Parramatta’s involvement in the South African Boer War was unveiled 30 April 1904, by the Colonel James Burns, and Alderman William Noller along with J. Arundel and Walter Gates. 

Present at the ceremonies were Colonel Cox, who would ten years later garner even more fame in Palestine during World War One, Major Hiillard of the Lancer Regiment, Captain’s Mackenzie, Guyot and Dr. G. E. Rundle (father of the late Captain W. J. S. Rundle, of King’s School. Also there was the Honorable Joseph Cook and between four and five hundred public school cadets under Major Dove.

The HMAS Parramatta Memorials, One and Two.

The stern of HMAS Parramatta I which forms the Memorial
at Queens Wharf, Parramatta. Photo Peter Arfanis

With the upcoming HMAS Parramatta IV Freedom of the City Parade fast approaching it is worth paying a visit to the two HMAS Parramatta Memorials at the Queens Wharf, Parramatta.

The two HMAS Parramatta Memorials commemorate the service of all the ships to bear the name Parramatta in the Royal Australian Navy. The first of the ships was the torpedo boat destroyer which served with distinction in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean in World War I. The second ship, a sloop, served in the Far East, Red Sea and the Mediterranean. She was sunk by the German submarine U559 off Tobruk on 27th November, 1941. One hundred and thirty seven of her crew were lost in the action. Only twenty four crew survived. The third Parramatta, a destroyer escort, was commissioned in 1959 and  decommissioned in 1991. The fourth Parramatta was launched in the year 2000 and is still in service.