War memorials

Glen Eira's largest and grandest war memorial was erected in 1930 to honour Caulfield citizens who served as volunteers in the First World War. The former Caulfield City Council later updated the memorial with an inscription commemorating those who fought in the Second World War.

In response to public sentiment, Caulfield City Council floated the idea of a local memorial in May 1927, at a cost of no more than 5,000 pounds. They invited returned soldiers to submit designs, with Geelong architect Norman Schefferle submitting the winning design.

Mayor Cr H.G Ritchie officially unveiled the memorial on Anzac Day 1931.

The memorial is made of marble, granite and sandstone and features decorative bronze wreaths on the corners of the raised platform. According to the War Memorial Conservation Report it is one of only five war memorials in Victoria to consist of a circular set of columns and the only one of this design to be elevated and surrounded by flights of steps.

The main inscription reads:

This memorial was erected in honour of those citizens of Caulfield who volunteered their services in the Great War 1914–1918. May it forever remind us that we enjoy a liberty maintained and enriched by the sacrifice of many lives upon this stone is now inscribed our gratitude for those citizens of Caulfield who defended the cause of freedom in the Second World War 1939–1945.

The Beer-Sheba Israel Memorial features a plaque that faces Hawthorn Road. Unveiled on 25 April 1995, it commemorates the Light Horse Charge of Beer-Sheba in 1917, during World War I. This was the last triumphant cavalry charge in world history.

The Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Plaque commemorates the planting of a tree (directly behind the plaque) in honour of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved 100,000 Jewish lives in Hungary during World War II.

The Rose Garden features a large planting of rosemary, which people traditionally wear on Anzac Day and often on Remembrance Day. Rosemary also grows on the wild slopes of Gallipoli. As part of the Caulfield Park Masterplan, Council removed the viewing platform overlooking the rose garden in May 2015, returning the area to open space.

The Aleppo Pine tree was planted from the original Lone Pine on Gallipoli.

The tree's plaque reads:

Aleppo Pine (Pinus Brutia) from the original Lone Pine on Gallipoli grown in the Jubilee Year 1965 planted in memory of departed comrades 'Lest We Forget'.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine, we planted another Aleppo Pine on the former site of the Caulfield Park Conservatory. Propagated from seeds from the Lone Pine at the Australian War Memorial, we officially unveiled the tree on 19 April 2015.

Adjacent to the new Lone Pine, the Memorial Stone lists the names of 298 people from the Caulfield district who died in World War I. In 2015, we moved the stone from near the rose garden to its current position on the site of the former conservatory, in front of the new Lone Pine.

Located at the Koornang Road end of picturesque Koornang Park, Council unveiled this war memorial on 25 April 1952.

The Memorial Swimming Pool commemorates those who served in World War I and World War II.

Located in Bentleigh/Hodgson Reserve, the Memorial Drinking Fountain was unveiled on 25 July 1920. It includes a marble scroll listing the names of people who served in the First World War. Council later added a bronze plaque with the dates of the Second World War, as well as the Malay, Vietnam and Borneo conflicts.

During and after World War I, around 90 memorial trees were planted along the entrance and around the oval in honour of the ‘Bentleigh boys’. You can still see some of the trees at the entrance.

McKinnon Memorial Garden is located in McKinnon Road, McKinnon. It features a large granite obelisk dedicated to those who served in the First World War, as well as a list of names. Council later added a plaque in memory of those who fell in the Second World War, Malaya, Korea, Vietnam and Borneo.

There also used to be an arboreal Avenue of Honour at McKinnon, featuring 23 names. None of the original trees still exist.

Memorial Park and the Avenue of Honour Plaques are located in Kooyong Road, Caulfield. Opening on 23 November 1997, its main feature is a semi-circular wall of memorial plaques honouring people who died in the First World War.

The main plaque reads:

In this year of Australia's Centenary of Federation these memorial plaques have been re-sited from their original position in the Avenues of Honour in North Road, McMillan Street and Point Nepean Road. These memorials were originally placed by the Councils of the former City of Caulfield and the Town of Brighton. They are dedicated to the servicemen who came from this district who died in the Great War of 1914–1918 ...

A grand arboreal Avenue of Honour once lined parts of North Road, McMillan Street and Point Nepean Road (now Nepean Highway). A distinctly Australian phenomenon, hundreds were built during and after World War One, mostly in Victoria. Consisting of tree-lined streets with each tree representing a solider, it was a more egalitarian approach to commemoration that didn't consider rank.

The Brighton-Caulfield Avenue of Honour was dedicated to the ‘memory of (Brighton and Caulfield’s) kith and kin who came from (the) district and who died in the Great War’. Next of kin then visited to plant trees for lost sons, brothers, uncles, nephews and husbands. More than 400 trees were planted in total. Before the Caulfield Park war memorial opened in 1931, the annual Anzac Day service was held at the Avenue on Point Nepean Road, near Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick.

Due to road widening and disease the last original tree was removed in the 1980s. A plaque in Caulfield Park records the Avenue’s plantation.