This week marks 100 years since the memorial commemorating the ultimate sacrifice made by Southlanders serving during World War I was officially unveiled in Invercargill.

The Southland Cenotaph, on Gala St, was officially unveiled to the public on Sunday, 6 December, 1925 by then-Governor General of New Zealand, Sir Charles Ferguson.

The crowd gathered for the occasion was reported to number more than 6000 people, including nearly 1000 returned soldiers.

Photo: Supplied

.

Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell said 100 years on, the cenotaph remained a powerful symbol of the respect and gratitude the community felt for those who had lost their lives in the war.

“The Southland cenotaph is an enduring reminder that we must continue to honour those who served, and ensure their stories are never forgotten,” he said.

“A century later, the cenotaph does more than honour the legacy of those who lost their lives. It challenges us as a community to live in a way that reflects upon and respects the sacrifice made in the past, for our future.”

At the end of WWI, the Fallen Soldiers Memorial Committee was formed in Invercargill. The committee aimed to raise funds for a memorial commemorating those Southlanders who served and died overseas.

The eventual Southland Cenotaph was designed by Dunedin architectural firm Coombs and White.

The memorial was heavily influenced by The Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1920 as the United Kingdom’s national memorial to the fallen of Britain and the Empire.

Its 10-foot-high statue of a soldier was cut and sculpted by G. Cancare, with the entire memorial itself carved from Bluff granite.

As well as the names of Southland soldiers killed in action during WWI, the cenotaph also bears the names of Southland nurses who also lost their lives overseas during the war.

The wider community was asked to submit the names and details of those soldiers and nurses who had lost their lives during the war.

Photo: Supplied

.

The programme for the ceremony noted that the memorial was ‘Erected by the People of Southland in Grateful Remembrance of those who, at the call of Duty, left all that was dear unto them, faced danger, endured hardship, and finally laid down their lives for their Country in the Great War, 1914 – 1918’.

The unveiling ceremony also included renditions of the hymn Nearer, my God, to Thee, the Last Post and God Save the King, as well as an address from the Invercargill Mayor of the time, Andrew Bain, who served two terms in the role (between 1923 to 1925, and 1925 to 1927).

Mayor Campbell said the sizeable crowds who gathered at the cenotaph every year, for occasions including ANZAC Day, showed the community still held a deep level of respect for those who had served in conflicts throughout the world.

"While the world has changed enormously since 1925, the horror at the human cost of war still resonates deeply. Looking at the cenotaph today, we are not just remembering names carved in granite – we are mourning those whose contribution to our community was cut tragically short.”

The word cenotaph is derived from the Greek word kenos and taphos, meaning ‘empty tomb’.