Brisbane's only war memorial clock silently keeps time and memories, hidden from traffic passing below on the busy Latrobe Terrace at inner-suburban Paddington. The four-sided clock, mounted atop a stone memorial engraved with the names of 130 local men who died in active service during WWI, was unveiled by Governor Sir Matthew Nathan in February 1922.
Residents of what was Ithaca Town Council began fundraising in 1920 and commissioned monumental masonry firm AH Thurlow under supervision of Ithaca town engineer R Black to create their memorial. Synchronome Electric Company manufactured the clock, initially driven by a master clock in the adjacent fire station.
Sited on a bare hilltop known as Cooks Hill, sandwiched between Enoggera and Latrobe terraces, the clock dominated the landscape. The bareness was softened by plantings, designed by Ithaca Town Council gardener Alexander Jolly (the father of the future Brisbane mayor William Jolly).
The park in which the memorial stands was renamed Alexander Jolly Park in the gardener's memory.
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