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WEYMOUTH UK - ANZAC MEMORIAL |
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Images by Roger Beckett of the UK |
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June 1st, 2005 at Weymouth in Dorset a memorial to the
Australians and New Zealanders who were accommodated in camps in the
town during WW1 was unveiled. Weymouth was the depot for the Anzacs Gallipoli
casualties sent to UK hospitals for treatment and then discharged as
convalescent.
The memorial is a three sided pillar about 1.5 metres in height. The depot opened in May 1915 and was the joint Australian and New Zealand depot until the NZ depot opened at Hornchurch in Essex in April 1916. Weymouth then became AIF Command Depot No.2. No. 2 C.D. accommodated those men not expected to be fit for duty within six months therefore most of the Diggers repatriated as a result of wounds or sickness passed through Weymouth. The depot closed in 1919. |
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"They Came From Afar In The Cause Of Freedom". |
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| The memorial is located on the sea front close to the town war memorial. The principal Australian camp in the area was Montevideo Camp. This was at Montevideo House which was a large building dating from the early 19th century. The house still exists and serves as an old people’s home. |
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Australian & New Zealand Troops in Weymouth Did you know that during the years 1915/1919, over 120,000 Australian and New Zealand troops passed through Weymouth? At the July Meeting of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society, Alvin Hopper told the story of how this came to be. Many of the troops fought in the Gallipolli Campaign of 1914. Australia was too distant to take the injured and evacuated troops, so they were brought back to England to recover and recuperate. Weymouth was the main destination and on 31st May 1915 the first of many camps in the Weymouth area was opened at Montevideo House. As the First World War progressed, and sadly the number of casualties, the number of troops in the area increased, other camps were opened at Westham, Chickerell, Littlemoor and the Verne. Many clues of the whereabouts of these camps remain – Australia Road, Adelaide Crescent, Melborne Road, to name but a few. There were strong links with the Australians in Chickerell and a stained glass window can be seen in St.Mary’s Church there. The troops were very welcome in the area and joined in many activities with the locals. After the war a large contingent of war brides left Weymouth and District to start up a new life in Australia or New Zealand. In Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Cemetary there are graves of those Anzacs who were never to return to their homelands and a memorial is still there, but the dedication is to Commonwealth troops and does not specifically mention Australia or New Zealand. Alvin Hopper has spent much time in researching the subject with the help of Weymouth Library, who have 50 photographs of the period, and the Internet. He has successfully campaigned for a more prominent and personal Memorial to be erected commemorating this important part of local history and during Veterans Week in 2005, a Memorial to those troops who graced Weymouth during the years of the First World War will be unveiled on Weymouth Esplanade. Susan Churchill |
