Wednesday 6 January 2016

Mount Scott, Geraldton, WA

The city is home to the Port of Geraldton, a major west coast seaport. Geraldton is an important service and logistics centre for regional mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism industries.

Arrived in Geraldton on August 23, 2015 and found a caravan park easily down by the sea.  Certainly cooler weather which we were not looking forward to, but you get used to it.

There is a hill in Geraldton called Mount Scott, we could see it, but be hanged if we could find it. Two days of driving around the city sightseeing and we stumbled across the hill.
On this hill is the 'Rotary Memorial,  World War 11 cruiser Sydney. 

The memorial recognises the loss of the light cruiser during a mutually destructive fight with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off Shark Bay in November 1941, with none of the 645 aboard surviving.
(Note, this vessel is the second Australian warship to be named HMAS Sydney, and is sometimes referred to as HMAS Sydney (II))


645 steel seagulls


Above is the Podium




One of the two granite walls with all the names.


The Waiting Women.  Waiting for her child to return, but of course, he never does!




The Stele


By the map you can see we have come a long way.


The Memorial is a Rotary International Project.

40 comments:

  1. The Hopman Cup watching does come in handy and I have a grin on my face the size of the Gulf of Mexico!!! Good on Lleyton and Jarmila. C'mon.

    Where is our "D" ??? ha ha. Surely it hasn't gone "walkabout"???
    I believe the sites for both sunken cruisers - Sydney 11 and Kormoran are now deemed as sacred sea war graves.
    That sculpture of the woman is just so moving - a masterpiece of sculpture.
    Now back to the mixed doubles. 11.11 pm BNE time.
    Cheers
    Colin
    PS; Lavender fields of Tassie - the new header???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops, I'll fix he 'd' thanks for telling me. Seeing tennis balls, that's the problem :)
      Lleyton and Jarmilla, hope they can do it! 12.20am Tasmanian time.
      Yes, the lavender, took the photo when I visited this time last year...
      Enjoy the tennis..

      Delete
    2. And you watched on! I watched the "fun and giggles" of the first set of the mixed with Lleyton and Jarmila winning but sleepy eyes won the battle so I missed the "foot to the pedal" final set.

      Quite fitting the 645 sea gulls in the memorial dome.
      Geraldton (with the "D" intact) must be very proud of their memorial.
      I was unaware that it was Rotary behind the memorial's erection.
      Cheers
      Colin

      Delete
    3. Yes I watched and enjoyed. Bed was very late at 1.30am.
      Rotary emblem on the fence, but didn't post it..

      Delete
    4. Nice to see you added to the photos - Rotary's input to the
      memorial's construction.
      Now for tonight - us against "them". Should be good, as long as
      we win - 2/1 should suffice - 3/0 would be better as a safety buffer for the finals.
      Colin

      Delete
  2. Hello Margaret,
    Wonderful pictures.
    It's a very impressive memorial for all fallen. Shot 3 is very special.

    Many greetings,
    Marco

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Certainly is a wonderful and very different memorial for those that died at sea in the ship..

      Delete
  3. Impressive. The waiting woman looks so sad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She certainly does look sad, as we women would be waiting.

      Delete
  4. A great memorial for the lives that were lost. The waiting woman waiting for her son is a sad one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 645...one ship.

    It's hard to grip the horror of that war.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's correct. Unless we were there, we really don't know how dreadful it was.

      Delete
  6. Love those seagulls. A lovely way to remember.
    And nice to see those waiting, hoping, wishing at home also remembered.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the canopy with the seagulls and the statue of the poor mother expresses her anxiety so well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It is a wonderful memorial. The Waiting Woman is sad.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Margaret the waiting woman is a perfect monument. So beautifil I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is such a beautiful memorial. The Waiting Women statue looking out to sea, hoping her son will return is so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  11. All the pain of the mother , waiting the return of the child is embodied in this monument . The dome , formed by Mob of gulls, is very beautiful .

    Kisses

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has been well thought out this memorial and a credit to Geraldton.

      Delete
  12. What a beautiful memorial, especially the seagulls and their shadows cast by the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you, I have heard of Geralton but have never been there

    ReplyDelete
  14. Replies
    1. Yes, Adam it is, rather different to anything I've seen.

      Delete
  15. Yes Monica, lavender a photo taken at the biggest lavender farm in the Southern Hemisphere.
    The link...
    http://bridestowelavender.com.au/pub/

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's a very lovely memorial.
    The field of lavender is quite stunning, massed blue against the deep green background of pines.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was very impressed when I was there. You have captured the feeling well.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My goodness! What a stunning memorial that is. So unique! Wow! I've never seen pictures of it before...thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I really like the seagull memorial - very unusual and striking. I also like the statue of the lady looking out to sea... very appropriate.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for calling and your comment.
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop