The War Memorial

A Monument to Service

This impressive war memorial was designed by Sir John Sulman and built by Messrs Roberts and Davis of Lismore. Local Postmaster Charlie Milsom and general store owner Len Loder—both WW1 veterans—organised public donations to finance the project, which cost a total of £497.

The memorial was built with Gosford Stone and features four tablets of Bowral trachyte, one on each face. Unusually, it records not just those who fell but all 93 volunteers who enlisted from the area—both those who died and those who returned.

Originally, the memorial had two large clock faces driven by batteries from a master clock in the Uki public school.

Dedication Ceremony

The memorial was unveiled on Saturday, 10th December 1927, by Mrs. George Sweetnam senior, the oldest lady resident of the South Arm who had lost a son in the Great War. As she pulled the cord allowing the flags to flutter away from the monument, the crowd stood with bared heads while the Murwillumbah Town Band played the National Anthem.

The plaque commemorating WW2 servicemen and women was added after Anzac Day in 1952, while the plaques for Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia were unveiled by Sir Roden Cutler on Tuesday, 16th October 1973.

Living Memorials

The cycads growing on the Memorial grounds are descendants of those planted in 1927. The Gallipoli Pine traces its lineage back to a pine that grew at Plateau 400 Lone Pine on the battlefields of Gallipoli. It was planted at Uki School on 11th November 2001 by Eric "Chubb" Sweetnam (WW2 veteran) and Mary Roberts (member of Uki RSL Women's Auxiliary).

Dawn services are held every Anzac Day, and Remembrance Day is commemorated on 11th November.