Harvey War Memorial

Unveiled in 2015, the beautiful Harvey War Memorial provides a welcoming and respectful place for reflection on the sacrifice of those who served our Country.

The Corten Wall provides a timeline of those major conflicts. It also highlights some key battles, significant places or events associated with those conflicts which hold a special place in Australian history. The number of Australians who lost their lives in each war is recorded and if you look closely, you will see perforations on the wall representing the comparative scale of loss suffered in each conflict. Adjacent to WWI and WWII, you will see some much larger perforations which represent the enormous loss of life in those wars. The perforations are also used to place red poppy tributes.

The architect, Jim Alexander, chose roughly cut, central granite rock or obelisk and rusted steel Corten walls to symbolise the harshness of war and the toughness and resilience of our soldiers. The obelisk is guarded by two Australian soldiers and bears the original plaques, relocated from the Harvey War Memorial Library, naming the 21 local men who lost their lives in WWI and the 22 locals killed in WWII.

The second Corten wall includes the “Ode of Remembrance”, a silhouette of an Australian light horseman along with the poem “They left their horses behind”. The horse is significant as only one of the 136,000 Australian horses that returned home after WWI.

The final panel includes the poem “In Flanders Field” which refers to the poppies, which we now associate with remembrance. At each end of the Corten walls, the silhouette of a Navy and Air Force serviceman stands guard.

A central point of the memorial is the fire pit, crafted in the shape of a poppy. The brick paving includes individual white pavers placed to replicate the lines of headstones found in a military cemetery.

These Corten walls are curved like embracing the community. The walls are dynamic; add water and in some areas, it streaks like tears down a face and the rust on the walls bleed when wet.

The large Gabian wall to the south of the site contains basalt rocks which are found in the Harvey hills and at the Harvey Dam. They show the strong, local foundations where our soldiers came from.

A major feature of this site is the retention of four large, majestic eucalyptus trees, two of which form a natural gateway to the Memorial. Over time, shrubs planted along the fence will form a hedge as a backdrop. Rosemary, another plant synonymous with remembrance, has also been planted.

Located in the town centre, the Memorial hosts ANZAC and Remembrance Day annual events.