Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The memorial was first erected in 1920 alongside the Old Roads Board Office and contains the names of those who served and died in WW1. Relocated from the site adjacent to the Roads Board Offices.

The Work of constructing the monument was in the hands of two returned soldiers Messrs Wales & Gillies, (Harry WALES 7179 & Lawrence BILLIES 7159) the material for same being Mahogany Greek Granite. They were responsible for the construction of the monuments at West Guidlford (1920), Bayswater (1922) Mt. Lawley (1924) and Claremont (1922).

Harry Wales and Lawrence Gillies served in the 13th Company of Engineers  and the  Gillies family were stonemasons so on return from the war, the two set up business together.

A modestly scaled granite obelisk with a rough execution mounted on a wide, square base and plinth. It is inscribed on the four faces of the base with the names of 154 Bassendean men who served in World War I, 26 of whom died. In the early 1970s, the memorial was dismantled and re-erected on the site it presently occupies on Old Perth Road, 200 metres east of the original site. The original high stepped base was not retained, resulting in the memorial being much shorter and the plaques very close to the ground. It is rumoured that the base was removed because the architect for the new library did not want the memorial to be taller than or dominate the building. In addition to its value as a war memorial, the place is also a good example of the moral arguments regarding siting that accompanied the construction of many war memorials, and of the changes to these arguments over time as relocation was debated.