The Top Ender Magazine October November 2020 Edition

Feature
The Cross of Sacrifice
Common to almost all Commonwealth war cemeteries
containing more than forty graves is the
Cross of Sacrifice. The Crosses are almost all the
same, freestanding, made of plain limestone and
usually mounted on an octagonal, stepped base.
The basic design, although with the proportions
of a Celtic cross, is a Latin cross (the main upright
below the horizontal crosspiece being longer than
the two horizontals and the vertical part above
the crosspiece) with an octagonal cross-section.
There are three different heights of cross ranging
between 5.5 and 9.75m (18 and 32 feet). On the
face is a bronze broadsword, with its blade running
downwards and its guard corresponding with the
arms of the cross. The nearest one to Darwin is in
Adelaide River War Cemetery, facing the gate as you
walk in, and outlined against the sky between two
enormous tamarind trees.
Who designed this Cross of Sacrifice, and when?
Sir Reginald Blomfield, the son of a bishop, was born
in 1856 in England during the reign of Queen Victoria.
He was a renowned architect, garden designer, and
author, but by 1919 he was slowing down, as World
War I had decreased the demand for the large houses,
schools and public buildings for which he was known.
He was encouraged to submit his design for the Cross
to the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission), and it was
accepted. Another famous monument of his is the
Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium commemorating the
loss of those who died in the Ypres Salient in WWI.
A Cross was recently erected
in Glasnevin Cemetery in
Dublin, Ireland, in 2014 on the
anniversary of the outbreak of
WWI. The YouTube clip below
shows it being made from Irish
limestone.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-OBohGMFdg
www.monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/multiple/
display/91565-cross-of-sacrifice
www.firstworldwar.com/bio/blomfield.htm
Adelaide River Cemetery
Kanchanaburi Cemetery, Thailand
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