June Newsletter
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London Legacy Newsletter June 2017 Equally, we should never forget that the burden of sacrifice fell heavily upon the shoulders of our Legacy widows and their dependants. In the years immediately after World War One it was the notion of sacrifice that became the wellspring for the form- ing of Legacy. In my meetings throughout Britain I never fail to be impressed and moved by the spirit and demeanour of our Legacy ladies. These ladies and their families have often endured difficult times in their lives, but their strength of character and stoic resilience is an inspiration to us all. As legatees, it is a singular honour and privilege President’s Greeting to be able to offer the duty of care these ladies so richly deserve. Dear Legacy ladies and friends of Legacy As an independent volunteer charity, with no gov- It’s mid-year and we’ve already ticked off a number ernment funding, London Legacy constantly pur- of important events on our Legacy calendar. sues avenues of fund-raising and sponsorship to enable us to continue and sustain our work. The Anzac Day period began with our highly suc- cessful, new-look Legacy Anzac Gala Dinner— our However, as I am always at pains to point out to our main fund-raising event of the year and our best legatees, the primary focus of Legacy was, is and dinner yet. always will be the care of our dependant families above all else. On Anzac Day our legatees attended traditional commemorative events in London, beginning with All other activities we undertake fall in behind this the Dawn Service and concluding with the Anzac important founding tenet. In the words of Sir Stanley Day Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey, a ser- Savige, founder of Legacy, “if a job is worthwhile vice which always fills the historic Abbey to capacity. doing, the money will come”. Commemoration has always been an integral part Should you need our help, or even a friendly voice of Legacy. No matter how busy our daily lives, we on the other end of the telephone, please don't hesi- should always find time on Anzac Day and Remem- tate to contact your legatee or myself at any time. brance Day to reflect on fallen and passed com- rades and to acknowledge their sacrifices. My best wishes to you all Simon Kleinig In this issue: traditional home of London Legacy. Our Quarterly • The Story of Australia House Meetings and AGM are conducted here, together with our Annual Reception, our Christmas Recep- • Gallipoli, Charles Bean and tion and, more recently, our Legacy Anzac Gala Legacy Dinner. • Legacy Anzac Gala Dinner The construction of Australia House (by the Dove • Vale Gordon Birdwood Brothers) commenced in 1913, but shipping prob- • Short Story: “Alter Ego” lems caused by World War One delayed its comple- • Away from the Western tion. Australia House was officially opened by King George V in a ceremony on 3 August 1918 attended Front by the Australian Prime Minister William (Billy) • Anzac Day commemorations Hughes. • 2017 London Marathon The building was designed by Scottish architects, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and his son, Alexander George Robertson Mackenzie. The Commonwealth of Australia's chief architect, John Smith Murdoch, travelled to London to work with the The Story of Australia House Mackenzies on the building. The imposing mass of the Australian High Commis- Although an Official Secretary had been appointed sion in London (Australia House) dominates the to London as early as 1906, the High Commission east end of the Strand, at the busy confluence of to London was the first Australian diplomatic mis- the crescent-shaped Aldwych and the Strand itself. sion and one of the most prominent in London. One of the more visually striking locations in Lon- don, Australia House faces the Church of St The building itself was built over a 900 year old sa- Clement Danes (of “Oranges and Lemons” nursery cred well drawing water from the River Fleet, a sub- rhyme fame). Australia House has long been the terranean river beneath London. The water in the well is clear and has been tested as safe to drink. Much of the building materials used in its construc- tion were imported from Australia. The building is of Portland stone on a base of Australian trachyte. The marbles used include dove-coloured Buchan marble from Victoria, the light and dark Caleula from New South Wales, and white Angaston mar- ble from South Australia. The joinery and flooring timbers include timber va- rieties from all Australian States, but the most prominent of these is black bean, a very hard and dense wood similar to English oak, used principally for panels of the first floor Downer Room, where the carvings represent arts and sciences. In more recent times the building's grand interior was used as the impressive setting of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Harry Potter and the Philoso- pher's Stone. HOW AUSTRALIA HOUSE Leaning against the balustrade which surrounds the roof one looks down on the London that Pepys loved. At one’s feet is St. Clement Danes LOOKS TO ENGLISH WRITER Church built by Wren in the Seventeenth Century (1916) facing its architectural rival of the Twentieth Century a short distance to the east. _____ Round it, minute and rapid, race taxi-cabs and Massive Building Called Impressive omni-buses between congested Fleet Street a few hundred yards away, and on one’s right one sees Example of “Roman” Architecture— the shining Thames. stands Out as a Factor in Imperial Affairs. This newcomer seems to lift its haughty head well above its older neighbours and one looks _____ down, as it were, on the roofs on London stretching away interminably in all directions with their chim- [Editor’s note: the abridged article (below) was kind- ney pots showing faintly through a garment of mist. ly provided by legatee Cathlyn Davidson. “The con- troller, Mr. Davidson”, mentioned in the following The Australian authorities have given the architects, article was the grandfather of Cathlyn’s husband, A. Marshall Mackenzie and A.G.R. Mackenzie, a Simon Davidson. The original full-length article is perfectly free hand to make a building that will stand available should any of our readers wish a copy. for a thousand years and be a credit to the Com- Please contact the editor at the address shown at monwealth. the end of this newsletter] The building itself is of Portland stone on a base of (Special to The Christian Science Monitor) trachyte, a grayish Australian stone having the ap- pearance of granite, while the roof is covered with LONDON, England—There is something the beautiful Westmoreland slates. symbolical in the way that Australia House, soon to be the official residence of Australia’s Passing through the great double entrance gates of High Commissioner, thrusts itself up lofty and iron and bronze, each some 20 feet by 12, and commanding from the most commanding site in through the wrought iron and bronze screen with its London’s most characteristic street, the Strand. revolving door which leads into the vestibule, the visitor will see on either hand steps leading down to Just so is Australia asserting herself in the the entrances from the Strand and from Aldwych. councils of that far-flung empire whose heart is London. The representatives of the overseas From here he has a magnificent vista extending nations are assuming an increasingly important right to the other end of the building. With its marble status, and, as the Dominion “ambassadors at pillars and magnificent show cases of Australian the Court of St. James,” must be housed in accord- products it will be the finest marble hall in the United ance with their increased importance and growing Kingdom. scope of the work they have to do. The High Commissioner will not merely dream of At any rate the Australians know a good site when marble halls; he will live in them. The decorative they see one and know how to build on it in a wor- scheme here, it may be mentioned, will include a thy manner. It is a magnificent building this, rising a series of paintings by Australian artists, but the good hundred feet into the air at the eastern end of competition for this has been postponed. the well-known Aldwych site. To right and left from the rotunda, corridors of white variety of the fine Australian hard-woods being used Angaston marble branch off, running parallel with on each floor except, of course, the ground floor. the Strand and Aldwych walls of the building, and There is Queensland cedar, Tasmanian blackwood, from these corridors one can enter the various min- which rather resembles rosewood, and maple. The isterial offices, the department of registration and lifts beside beside the main staircase will be of Aus- dispatch, the intelligence departments, and so forth, tralian oak and walnut. which look on to the Strand or Aldwych or Mel- bourne Place, as the case may be. The first floor, besides Angaston marble, will use up a good deal of blackbean wood, an especially hard Meantime, Mr. Davidson, the controller, whose wood resembling walnut. These woods all have wealth of ideas has found expression throughout come from Australia despite the enormous freights, the building, is playing with the notion of an Aus- and the furniture of the ministerial offices will also tralian or Imperial Club, certainly an attractive idea. be sent from Australia. Had it been feasible, no doubt Australia House Australia House is a massive building, but unlike would have been built by Australians with Australian many such buildings it is not dark.The corridors material and entirely furnished from the Antipodes which run round each floor are, as already men- just as the Australian army in France is fed, clothed tioned, of white Angaston marble on the first floor and armed by the Commonwealth.