Description of the attraction
The Hobart Cenotaph, also known as the Hobart War Memorial, is the main war monument in the Australian state of Tasmania. It is located in the state capital on a small elevation overlooking the city and the Derwent River. It is here that the main celebrations and marching processions take place on the National Day of Remembrance and Honoring of Veterans of the wars in which Australia participated. On this day at dawn, a lonely trumpeter always plays the so-called "Last Post" - a check before dawn.
The cenotaph, 23.3 meters high, is made in the Art Deco style, reproducing the traditional Egyptian obelisk. It stands on a stepped plinth of bluish sandstone, and the obelisk itself is made of granite. On each side of the cenotaph you can see a Latin cross made of red glass, all the crosses are illuminated. On the north side is a bronze laurel wreath. Spotlights illuminate the cenotaph at night. After the construction of the cenotaph, the territory adjacent to it was ennobled - a cobbled alley was laid, along which poplars were planted. In 1926, a double row of cedars connected the cenotaph and Soldier's Remembrance Avenue, but only two trees have survived to this day.
Initially, the obelisk was erected in memory of the Tasmanian soldiers who died during the First World War, but today it perpetuates the memory of the victims of all military conflicts in which Tasmanian soldiers participated. In 1925, during the construction of the memorial, a zinc container was placed at its base with the names of 522 local soldiers who died during the First World War. The inscription on the cenotaph reads: "So as not to be forgotten", below the date "1914 - 1919". Although the First World War ended in 1918, in memory of the Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, it was decided to put this date on the cenotaph. After World War II, the date "1939 - 1945" was added.
