Clothing the Nation: Representing a Distinctively Australian National Identity in World War I Memorial Architecture

Abstract

Large-scale state and national memorials to World War I dead embody complex symbolism, spanning pride and grief. Built at a time when Australia sought to assert a more independent national identity, they provoke the question of how Australian designers chose to express national identity through the medium of commemorative architecture. To address this question, this article examines a range of designs submitted to three major Australian competitions held in the 1920s: for the National War Memorial of Victoria (Melbourne), the Australian War Memorial (Canberra), and the Australian Memorial (Villers-Bretonneux, France). It draws on visual documentation of these designs, unpublished competition reviews, and responses from the contemporary press, while its examination of both built and unbuilt designs enables a new analysis of contemporary architectural thought about memorials. In looking beyond the predominantly classical nature of these designs, this article discerns efforts by designers to create a deeper symbolic representation of nationhood.

All reasonable efforts have been made to locate the current holders of copyright for images published in this article. The author welcomes any further information on this matter.

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 William Blamire Young, ‘The Designs for the Victorian War Memorial’, Art in Australia (March 1924), unpaginated.

2 Pat Jalland, Death in the Victorian Family (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 373; Pat Jalland, Australian Ways of Death: A Social and Cultural History 1840–1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 304–6; Joy Damousi, The Labour of Loss: Mourning, Memory and Wartime Bereavement in Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 16; Joy Damousi, ‘Mourning Practices’, in The Cambridge History of the First World War, vol. 3, Civil Society at War, ed. Jay Winter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 358–84.

3 This concept underpins Bart Ziino’s A Distant Grief: Australians, War Graves and the Great War (Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 2007). See also Michael McKernan, Here Is Their Spirit: A History of the Australian War Memorial 1917–1990 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1991), x–xii.

4 For memorials as surrogate tombs, see K.S. Inglis, Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, 2nd edn (Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2005); and Ziino. For pilgrimage, see Bruce Scates, Return to Gallipoli: Walking the Battlefields of the Great War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); David Lloyd, Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia and Canada, 1919–1939 (Oxford: Berg, 1998), ch. 5; and Damousi, ‘Mourning Practices’, 376–9. The American situation was different, the United States allowing the option of repatriation. See Lisa Budreau, Bodies of War: World War I and the Politics of Commemoration in America, 1919–1933 (New York: New York University Press, 2010).

5 Inglis, Sacred Places, 181.

6 Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History (London: Routledge, 1994), 85.

7 K.S. Inglis, ‘Monuments in the Modern City’, in Anzac Remembered: Selected Writings by K.S. Inglis, ed. John Lack, ebook, https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=729839944150074;res=IELHSS (accessed 23 May 2020).

8 For a comprehensive study of Lucas, and sustained analysis of the designs for the Victorian and Villers-Bretonneux memorials, see Katti Williams, ‘Sublime Ruins: William Lucas’ Project for the Australian WWI War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France’, Melbourne Art Journal 11–12 (2010): 64–85; and Katti Williams, ‘Exquisite Joy, Exquisite Privilege: The Unrealised Great War Memorial Designs of Australian Architect William Lucas’ (PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2017).

9 Walter Godfrey, ‘Peace and the Art of Architecture, II’, Architectural Review (December 1919): 160.

10 For the impact of muscular Christianity on British culture, see Patrick Howarth, Play Up and Play the Game: The Heroes of Popular Fiction (London: Methuen, 1973); Norman Vance, The Sinews of the Spirit: The Ideal of Christian Manliness in Victorian Literature and Religious Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985); and James A. Mangan, The Games Ethic and Imperialism: Aspects of the Diffusion of an Ideal (Harmondsworth: Viking, 1985). For a specifically Australian context, see Martin Crotty, Making the Australian Male: Middle-Class Masculinity 1870–1920 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001). In 1865 British artist and writer John Ruskin had argued for war’s role as an agent of cultural rejuvenation, influencing Godfrey and his fellows, like Selwyn Image. John Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive: Three Lectures on Work, Traffic, and War (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1865), 143; Selwyn Image, ‘Art and the War’, The Architect and Contract Reporter, 30 October 1914, 374; Samuel Hynes, A War Imagined: The First World War and English Culture (London: Bodley Head, 1990), 17; Allyson Booth, Postcards from the Trenches: Negotiating the Space between Modernism and the First World War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 128–9.

11 See Alan Borg, War Memorials: From Antiquity to the Present (London: Leo Cooper, 1991); for classicism within the Australian context, see Ana Carden-Coyne, Reconstructing the Body: Classicism, Modernism and the First World War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

12 Reginald Blomfield, The Mistress Art (London: E. Arnold, 1908), 239, 251.

13 Geoffrey Scott, The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste (London: Constable, 1924 [1914]), 3.

14 Albert Richardson, Monumental Classic Architecture of England (New York: Norton, 1982 [1914]), xxvi, 2.

15 William Lethaby, ‘A National Architecture’, first instalment, Journal of Proceedings of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects 16, no. 6 (1919): 164. Lethaby’s paper had appeared in the British journal The Builder in October 1918.

16 Ibid.

17 G.A. Bremner, ‘Stones of Empire’, and Julie Willis and Stuart King, ‘The Australian Colonies’, in Architecture and Urbanism in the British Empire, ed. G.A. Bremner (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 86–124, 346.

18 See Ann Stephen, ed., Visions of a Republic: The Work of Lucien Henry (Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing, 2001).

19 ‘Practical Australian Art: How the National Spirit Is Taking Form in Architectural Ornament’, Building (October 1912): 88–90.

20 Willis and King, 346–8; they note that a national domestic architecture was more readily discernible.

21 See, for example, Lord Frederick Leighton’s widely circulated lectures to the British Royal Academy in the 1870s and 1880s, which emphasised the interdependence of classical art and civilisation.

22 Norman Vance, The Victorians and Ancient Rome (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997), 5; Peter Parker, The Old Lie: The Great War and the Public-School Ethos (London: Constable, 1987), 224.

23 Emma Reisz, ‘Classics, Race and Edwardian Anxieties about Empire’, in Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire, ed. Mark Bradley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 217; Elizabeth Vandiver, Stand in the Trench, Achilles: Classical Receptions in British Poetry of the Great War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 170–8.

24 David Crane, Empires of the Dead: How One Man’s Vision Led to the Creation of WWI’s War Graves (London: William Collins, 2014), 67–8; John Lack and Bart Ziino, ‘Requiem for Empire: Fabian Ware and the Imperial War Graves Commission’, in Empires in World War I: Shifting Frontiers and Imperial Dynamics in a Global Conflict, eds Andrew Jarboe and Richard Fogarty (London: I.B. Taurus, 2014), 352. See also Michèle Barrett, ‘Subalterns at War: First World War Colonial Forces and the Politics of the Imperial War Graves Commission’, in Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea, ed. Rosalind Morris (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 156–76.

25 See Winter, Sites of Memory, 85.

26 Borg, 67; Allan Greenberg, ‘Lutyens’ Cenotaph’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 48, no. 5 (1989): 9–11.

27 Lutyens to Emily, 12 July 1917, cited in Christopher Hussey, The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens (Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1984), 373. See David Crellin, ‘Some Corner of a Foreign Field: Lutyens, Empire and the Sites of Remembrance’, in Lutyens Abroad: The Work of Sir Edwin Lutyens Outside the British Isles, eds Andrew Hopkins and Gavin Stamp (London: British School at Rome, 2002), 108–11; Allan Greenberg, ‘Lutyens’ Cenotaph’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 48, no. 5 (1989): 20.

28 Winter, Sites of Memory, 104. Jeroen Geurst, Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2010), 183, echoes this view. These varying interpretations are exemplified in scholarly readings: Adrian Gregory, The Silence of Memory: Armistice Day 1919–1946 (Oxford: Berg, 1994), 47, note 82, sees the Cenotaph as recalling Christ’s tomb, while K.S. Inglis, ‘Entombing Unknown Soldiers: From London to Paris to Baghdad’, History and Memory 5, no. 2 (1993): 10, emphasises its secular qualities.

29 Carolyn Holbrook, Anzac: The Unauthorised Biography (Sydney: NewSouth, 2014), ch. 1; Robin Gerster, Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1992), ch. 1; Sarah Midford, ‘From Achilles to Anzac: Classical Receptions in the Australian Anzac Narrative’ (PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2016); see also Antonio Sagona, Mithat Atabay, Chris Mackie, Ian McGibbon and Richard Reid, Anzac Battlefield: A Gallipoli Landscape of War and Memory (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2016); Henry Reynolds, ‘Are Nations Really Made in War?’, in What’s Wrong with Anzac? The Militarisation of Australia History, eds Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds (Sydney: NewSouth, 2010), 24–44; Frank Bongiorno, ‘Remembering Anzac: Australia and World War 1’, in History, Memory and Public Life, eds Anna Maerker, Simon Sleight and Adam Sutcliffe (New York: Routledge, 2018), 187–8; Martin Crotty, ‘Australian Troops Land at Gallipoli: Trial, Trauma and the “Birth of the Nation”’, in Turning Points in Australian History, eds Martin Crotty and David Roberts (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2009), 102–3, 107–13.

30 Bongiorno, 185; Joy Damousi, ‘War and Commemoration: “The Responsibility of Empire”’, in Australia’s Empire, eds Deryck Schreuder and Stuart Ward (Oxford Scholarship Online, 2011), ebook, DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563739.003.0012 (accessed 1 June 2020).

31 Bruce Kapferer, Legends of People, Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2012), 127.

32 See Midford, ‘From Achilles to Anzac’; and Sarah Midford, ‘An Athenian Temple in the Antipodes: Ancient Greek Cultural Values and Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance’, History Australia 16, no. 3 (2019): 496–517.

33 Arthur St John Adcock, Australasia Triumphant! With the Australians and New Zealanders in the Great War on Land and Sea (London: Simpkin, Hamilton, Marshall, Kent, 1916), 76–7.

34 Ibid., 81–2; Chris Flaherty and Michael Roberts, ‘The Reproduction of Anzac Symbolism’, Journal of Australian Studies 13, no. 24 (1989): 58.

35 Cited in Flaherty and Roberts, 60, who in turn cite K.S. Inglis’ ‘A Sacred Place’, War & Society 3, no. 2 (1986): 99–126. For a detailed discussion of Bean’s plans, see McKernan; Midford, ‘From Achilles to Anzac’, 188–94; and Sarah Midford, ‘Revealing Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides in C.E.W. Bean’s Official History’, in Australia and the Great War: Identity, Memory and Mythology, eds Michael Walsh and Andrekos Varnava (Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2016), 188–203.

36 Springthorpe is cited in The Argus, 24 August 1921, 6.

37 William Hughes, ‘Australia Wins Her Nationhood’, in The Book of the Anzac Memorial, ed. S. Elliot Napier (Sydney: Beacon Press, 1934), 83. Hughes cited himself.

38 Bremner, ‘Stones of Empire’, 86.

39 Carden-Coyne, 57, 112. See also Gabriel Koureas, ‘“Unconquerable Manhood”: Memory, Masculinity and the Commemoration of the First World War in British Visual Culture, 1914–1930’ (PhD thesis, University of London, 2003), 14.

40 Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 21–23. Ibid., 117, 140.

41 Hynes, 54.

42 Young.

43 Bruce Scates, A Place to Remember: A History of the Shrine of Remembrance (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 15; William Lucas, ‘National War Memorial of Victoria Competition: A Folio Record of Designs’, inner leaf, condition 4, National Library of Australia (hereafter NLA).

44 William Lucas, ‘National War Memorial for Victoria: A Review of the Competition’, State Library of Victoria (hereafter SLV), MS 12951.

45 For Montford, see Catherine Moriarty, ‘“The Returned Soldiers’ Bug”: Making the Shrine of Remembrance, Victoria’, in Contested Objects: Material Memorials of the Great War, eds Nicholas Sanders and Paul Cornish (London: Routledge, 2009), 144–62.

46 William Lucas, The War Memorial of Victoria and Capital: A Suggestion (Melbourne: W.T. Prater, 1919).

47 Cited in Lucas, ‘National War Memorial’, SLV, MS 12951.

48 For Annear’s predilection for arches, see Harold Desbrowe Annear, ‘The National War Memorial’, For Every Man His Home 1 (March 1922): 56; Harriet Edquist, Harold Desbrowe Annear 1865–1933: A Life in Architecture (Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 2004), 97–101.

49 Royal Institute of British Architects, HUP/1: Philip B. Hudson, transcript of address given at the Shrine of Remembrance, 12 July 1931. See also Hudson’s undated thesis ‘The National War Memorial of Victoria: The Shrine of Remembrance’, Melbourne City Council, Shrine of Remembrance Trustees, Series 19/1.

50 For a detailed survey of this discourse, see Scates, A Place to Remember, 22–42.

51 ‘The Shrine of Remembrance: Does It Embody the Spirit of Australia?’, Herald, 17 January 1924, 1.

52 ‘Sydney’s Opinion, The War Memorial: Distinguished Artists’ Views’, Herald, 14 February 1924, 6.

53 Hugh Adam, ‘War Memorial Not Good Enough’, Herald, 21 January 1924, 3.

54 Scates, A Place to Remember, 21.

55 ‘Hero Missing: Artist’s Criticism of Winning Design’, Herald, 18 January 1924, 8.

56 ‘War Memorial: Views of Italian and French Citizens’, Herald, 26 January 1924, 5.

57 ‘What People Are Saying and Doing’, Table Talk, 24 January 1924, 10.

58 ‘C.H.S.’, letter to the editor, Argus, 28 January 1924, 13.

59 ‘Sydney’s Opinion’, Herald, 14 February 1924, 6.

60 Young.

61 See Scates, A Place to Remember, 28–34.

62 Philip Burgoyne Hudson, Roy Benjamin Hudson, John Burgoyne Hudson, National Archives of Australia (hereafter NAA), B2455. Their sister, Pamela, served as a nurse in India.

63 National Memorial Executive Committee, The First Brochure on the First Premiated Design: The National War Memorial of Victoria (Melbourne: G.W. Green & Sons, 1924), unpaginated.

64 William Lucas, ‘Commonwealth of Australia, Federal Capital Commission, Australian War Memorial Canberra, Architectural Competition July 1925–February 1927: A Review’, NLA, unpublished manuscript, 2; Inglis, Sacred Places, 336–7.

65 For discussion of the display of the collections, see Jennifer Wellington, Exhibiting War: The Great War, Museums, and Memory in Britain, Canada, and Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 186.

66 See McKernan; and Inglis, Sacred Places, 333–47.

67 Sixty-nine is the official figure, although Lucas’ review mentions seventy. Crust submitted two designs, but only one was singled out.

68 Florence Taylor, co-editor, was a vocal critic of the adjudicators’ actions; see ‘Canberra and Its Competitions: Scandal in Architectural Profession’, Building (April 1927): 45–52.

69 ‘Results of National Memorial Museum Competition’, Building (March 1927), 55. Craig served in the Australian Imperial Force; NAA, B2455: Craig, William Hughston. Harold Crone was British, served with the British forces, and arrived in Australia in 1922.

70 John Crust’s competitor’s report is cited in Lucas’ review, 14.

71 Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, NAA: folder 2, B1535, 828/2/286 (entrants were required to furnish proof of qualification).

72 Two further designs were not described.

73 These figures foreshadow C. Bruce Dellit’s design for the Anzac Memorial, Sydney. A similar visual technique was also used in the earlier Canadian Memorial at Saint Julien, and in at least one of the entries to the Canberra competition.

74 William Lucas, ‘Australian National War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France: A Review of the Competition; and Commonwealth of Australia, Federal Capital Commission, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Architectural Competition July 1925–February 1927: A Review’, NLA, unpublished manuscript, 13, 16.

75 Ibid., 12.

76 William Lucas, Australian National War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France (Melbourne: Argonaut Press, 1930), 29.

77 Lucas, The War Memorial of Victoria and Capital, 6.

78 Lucas, Australian National War Memorial, 27.

79 For the project’s ill-fated history, see Inglis, Sacred Places, 254–5; and Romain Fathi, ‘“Do Not Forget Australia”: Australian War Memorialisation at Villers-Bretonneux’ (PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 2015).

80 William Lucas, letter to the editor, Argus, 10 June 1938, 10.

81 Inglis, Sacred Places, 265.

82 The discussion is documented in Commonwealth War Graves Commission, WG 857/3/2, Part 2.

Additional information

Funding

This article forms part of a larger project funded by a generous research grant by the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne.