WWI Memorial Gates

The gates were erected to commemorate those who died in service or killed in action in World War 1. Port Pirie soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice numbered two hundred. The foundation stone was laid in 1923 by Lieutenant-Colonel Pearce who lost three sons in the war.

The architect Mr J Jenkins offered his services for free and the contractors had carried out the work at minimal expense.

The gates were officially opened in 1924 by Pearce and Mayor J C Fitzgerald in the presence of a large concourse of spectators. Returned soldiers, many of them still showing scars from the war, marched along with the Salvation Army Band, from the Town Hall to the memorial for the occasion.

Pearce formally handed the keys of the gates to the Mayor with the wish that all the people of Port Pirie would see that the memorial was well preserved.