South African War Memorial (South Australia) - The Memorial Today

The Memorial Today

After World War I the memorial became one of the centerpieces of the Adelaide Anzac Day march. The route for the march starts at the National War Memorial, heads west along North Terrace, and turns right down King William Road before culminating in a service at the Cross of Sacrifice (in the Adelaide Park Lands opposite the St Peter's Cathederal). As the marchers turn on to King William Road they salute the South African War Memorial.

As part of the State of South Australia's sesqui-centenerary in 1988, referred to locally as "Jubilee 150", a "Jubilee 150 Walkway" was created along the north side of North Terrace, commenencing at the memorial.

The memorial's location on a busy street corner has caused it to deteriorate, resulting in at least two recent clean-up and restoration projects. The first involved a clean-up of the granite base, while the second involved more extensive restoration, and was completed in April, 2007 at a cost of $90,000.

A commemoration ceremony for the memorial was to be held on the 100th Anniversary of its dedication, 6 June 2004, with the Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson in attendance.

In recent years there has been talk of building a replica of the memorial. On 31 May 2008 on ANZAC Parade, Canberra, the formal dedication of a site in which will be placed a new national Boer War memorial was held. A National Boer War Memorial Committee was formed prior to that date, and they will be conducting a national competition to find a design for the new memorial. In the design brief for the memorial, the committee state that it is their desire to build a memorial along the same lines as Adelaide's: going so far as to say that they would be willing to accept a replica of the statue from the South Australian memorial if the original mould could be located or if a duplicate could otherwise be produced.