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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 13, 2005 18:43:50 GMT 12
Today Cambridge commemorated Armistice Day with the annual large event. One of the highlights was a flyover by the Catalina ZK-CAT. Sadly it was not easy to photograph because I was in the car on the way there, and we screamed to a halt and jumped out to try to capture it. Sadly my photos are not great, but they're something...    |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 13, 2005 19:34:52 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 13, 2005 19:47:59 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 13, 2005 20:03:15 GMT 12
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Post by corsair67 on Nov 14, 2005 17:58:55 GMT 12
Great photos, Dave: certainly looks like a good day/evening had buy all. I love the picture of the GI using the generator as cover in the "France - 1944" battle!
The Cambridge Cenotaph is really interesting: do you know who the sculptor was?
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Post by Bruce on Nov 14, 2005 19:43:33 GMT 12
We Cambridge people are actually very proud of the cenotaph, it is quite unusual to see such a moving sculture of a soldier on a war memerorial. The sculptor was Richard Gross, the architect Nigel Walnutt, see the cambridge museum pages: cambridgemuseum.org.nz/HistoricBuildings/histbldgs.htm |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 14, 2005 20:24:26 GMT 12
Yes it is a fantastic Cenotaph, sadly marred by just one thing - some of the names are missing and one or two are spelled wrong! Pity. One guy on the Cenotaph never even existed either - I have tried to find out who he was and even the Commonwealth War Graves Commission doesn't know. Bruce, did you that the original Wallnut design submitted to council was much bigger, and had four lions instead of the one. It also had a bit of a plaza which is what's there now. But the estimated price had the committee saying no. So he had to cut it down considerably. There's an amazing artist's impression he drew in the museum. It'd be neat to make a model of it to show what might have been. Our Cenotaph is ideed considered by some the best in the country. The scultured man (which is great because it can represent all services and wars really) is called Youth. Here's another photo of the Cenotaph I took last year  |
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Post by corsair67 on Nov 15, 2005 7:20:32 GMT 12
Thanks for that information, guys. Yes, it is a very moving sculpture, and more's the pity that a few other towns didn't come up with something quite as meaningful. There truly are some pretty bland war memorials around, both in NZ and over here in Australia.
Have you seen the NZ Memorial in Canberra? I haven't got any pictures of it, but maybe I should take some and post them on photobucket.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 15, 2005 16:00:28 GMT 12
Please do, I'd like to see it. Isn't there an ANZAC Bridge in Aussie somewhere too that was recently opened to commemorate both countries in the wars?
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Post by corsair67 on Nov 15, 2005 17:33:35 GMT 12
Yeah, the ANZAC Bridge is in Sydney. On one pylon there is a New Zealand flag flying (left of picture) and on the other an Australian flag flying (right of picture). It's hard to recognise the flags when you're driving over the bridge as they are up pretty high! There is also a statue of an Australian Soldier at one end.  Dave, I will take a few pictures of the NZ Memorial in Canberra in the next week or so. I have posted pictures of some of the other memorials along ANZAC Parade in my "photobucket" album in case you are interested. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 15, 2005 17:46:19 GMT 12
Very nice shot Craig.
Feel free to post the photobucket photos into a thread, as you've down above, I'm sure you'll get more people viewing them that way. They are most welcome.
Have you any idea where this town is - two years ago on ANZAC Day when i got home from the parade i turned on Prime TV which was screening Nine News (as it always does). They featured a town in Aussie that after WWI had planted a tree in memory of every person lost from that town. It included soldiers, sailors, nurses and airmen i think. They were pine trees and lined the main street.
Anyway, after all these decades they were getting old and a bit dangerous and council felt they needed to chop them down for the safety of people. So they got in a chainsaw sculptor, and after topping the trees down to about 10 foot stumps, he carved each one into a statue of WWI people, all these neat 3-D scenes in wood, depicting all the Australian WWI services and nurses, etc. It was a really touching story, and an amazing idea to preserve the living memorials afetr their death. Does anyone know where that town is? I'd like to see if there are photos on the net.
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Post by corsair67 on Nov 15, 2005 18:05:10 GMT 12
It is a great photo; I didn't take it though! I found it on the 'net, and it was actually taken by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority.
I don't know where that town is that you are talking about, but I would certainly like to know more about it. At the War Memorial there is a pine tree (I don't know which sub-species!) that was grown from seed removed from a pine cone by an AIF soldier at Lone Pine, Gallipoli in 1915 and sent home to his family. You can also buy seedlings taken from this tree now at the ACT Govt nursery in Canberra, which I think is a really nice idea; but you'd need a big yard as they do grow pretty big!
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