Royal National Park Memorial

A memorial was erected in National Park, at Audley, in 1919. This was to commemorate the twenty one employees and residents of the park who had volunteered for service in World War 1.  Joseph Ellis, a stonemason from  Sutherland, built the memorial and engraved the twenty one names upon it. Joseph attached a small plaque with his name at the base.

The unveiling ceremony, on Saturday 21 June, was attended by hundreds. However, in successive years the location of the memorial, on a sharp bend on Audley Road, proved to be an unsuitable site. With increasing traffic the memorial suffered damage and it became too dangerous for visitors to stop here to pay their respects. The National Parks and Wildlife Service decided to restore and relocate the memorial, aided by a Federal Government grant.

The memorial was relocated in April 2009, under the supervision of stonemason Danny Sullivan, to its present calm and picturesque site beside the river at Allambie Flat. A stone base was built, cleaning and restoration work undertaken and timber bollards linked with chains erected around the memorial. A re-dedication ceremony was held on 29 April 2012 to which descendants of the National Park servicemen were invited. 

To discover more details of the servicemen named upon this memorial click on the heading at the top of this page, then on to one on the names listed at the bottom of the next page.

More information about the memorial and biographies of these servicemen can be found in SERVICE AND SACRIFICE, Sutherland Shire Memorials 1914-1918,  by Marilyn Handley and Susanne Hewitt, 2015, available from Botany Bay Family History Society, 02 9523 8948, P.O.Box 1006, Sutherland, NSW, 1499.