Hobart Cenotaph

Hobart Cenotaph
Australia
For Tasmanians who served in wars and peacekeeping operations since 1914
Unveiled	13 December 1925
Location	42°52′39″S 147°20′10″E / 42.87750°S 147.33611°E / -42.87750; 147.33611Coordinates: 42°52′39″S 147°20′10″E / 42.87750°S 147.33611°E / -42.87750; 147.33611 near Hobart, Australia
Designed by	Hutchinson & Walker architects
"Lest We Forget", "1914-1919" & "1939-45"

Hobart Cenotaph, (usually 'The Cenotaph', also referred to as Hobart War Memorial), is the main commemorative military monument for the Australian state of Tasmania. It is located in the capital Hobart in a prominent position on the Queens Domain, on a small rise overlooking the city and River Derwent. The Cenotaph sits directly above what was once the location of the Queens Battery.

The Cenotaph is the centre of Anzac Day commemoration services at dawn and mid-morning, and is the destination of the marching procession. On Anzac Day at the break of dawn, a lone bugler always plays the Last Post.

The Hobart Cenotaph is an Art Deco reinterpretation of a traditional Egyptian Obelisk. The Cenotaph was originally erected to commemorate the war dead of Tasmania from World War I, but has had subsequent additions made for all conflicts since then in which Tasmanian soldiers have served. The original inscription reads: "Lest We Forget", and "1914-1919". Although World War I ended on 11 November 1918, the inscription is dated '1919' in commemoration of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed on 28 June 1919. There are no names recorded upon the Cenotaph itself.

An Anzac Day commemoration was held there in 1925 during construction. During the ceremony, a casket of solid zinc which bore the names of the 522 Tasmanians who were killed in World War I was set into the base of the shaft. It was unveiled on 13 December 1925 and replaced a previous wooden structure.

The monument was designed by Hobart architectural firm Hutchinson and Walker, after their entry had won a public competition held in 1923 for the structure's design. Their original design was for an obelisk that was to stand 65 feet (20 m) high, but it was decided to increase the height to 75 feet (23 m). The obelisk itself is stood upon a stepped plinth 8 square metres (86 sq ft) made from bluestone, and the obelisk is made from grey granite. The shaft of the obelisk is tapered with chamfered edges and is capped with a pyramidal cap. Directly beneath the cap on each side are back-lit red opaque glass Latin crosses that are illuminated constantly in remembrance of the dead.