North Curl Curl: Clifftop World War I memorial vandalised
A North Curl Curl memorial to soldiers lost in WWI is in ruins and its restorer is convinced it was foul play.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A World War I memorial has been vandalised on the cliffs of North Curl Curl with parts of the monument “smashed off”, less than a month out from Anzac Day.
The North Curl Curl Beach Obelisk on the Bicentennial Coastal Walk was erected in 1917 and is inscribed with the names of 10 Australian soldiers.
Northern Beaches Council told the Manly Daily it was alerted to the vandalism last Friday afternoon, but does not know when it took place or the motive behind it.
“Council deplores the desecration of war memorials and urges anyone who witnesses this type of vandalism to report it to the police,” Mayor Michael Regan said.
The matter has been reported to the police and the council has confirmed it will repair the memorial.
The Obelisk was previously restored by volunteer and northern beaches local Kevin Martin, in 2008.
Mr Martin said he was “disturbed and disappointed” after all the work he had invested into the project.
“I’m disturbed someone did this so close to Anzac Day. Anyone that would do it hasn’t got any brains,” Mr Martin said.
“I’m more than upset, I was quite concerned about it because I thought if it falls off the cliff, there are people below and it could kill them so I went straight down to take a look at the damage.
“Thankfully it was still stable but the top of it had smashed off, along with a granite plaque at the bottom with the soldiers names on it”.
The 88-year-old said he was convinced it was vandalised and not damaged by natural causes.
“I enlisted the opinion from a stone mason who said the granite tablet couldn’t have fallen off that way, it had been hit by something.”
Mr Martin has been a member of the surf life saving club for 70 years and volunteered to restore the names to the memorial.
“I could see that there were panels on the monument but they were all fading away so I decided to do work on it and get it fixed up properly.
“I thought I’d have enough funds from the Minister for Veterans Affairs but because it was on crown land it had to be done a certain way and so I had to pay for it out of my own pocket..”
He said he was willing to get involved again so the monument could be restored to its former glory.
The obelisk was erected on the cliffs because it had been the soldiers hangout spot during the summer holidays.