Presented for the National Trust Heritage Festival, an outdoor (24/7) historic exhibition Callan Park’s Veterans : a century of connections is installed at three locations within Callan Park: at the 1925 Callan Park War Memorial, designed by the siblings, Raymond and Eileen McGrath, who have their connections to the ANZAC Memorial; at the 1931 Sydney Harbour Bridge War Memorial – designed by Douglas Grant; and at Broughton Hall.
Callan Park and Broughton Hall became military hospitals during WWI – #28 and #13 Australian Auxiliary Hospitals, respectively, beginning a century of veteran care, and an enormous investment in infrastructure and services by the Repatriation Department.
Today all memories of Anzac Day or Remembrance Day services at Callan Park have vanished, yet a new and deeply significant form of remembrance has begun spontaneously as the nearby childcare centre makes beautiful paper poppies and community members leave flowers and without glorification, reflect upon the impact of war.
Contact Friends of Callan Park: focp.admin@gmail.com
Diyi ngura Wangal-ngayi Gadigal-ngayi
This is Wangal Gadigal country
CALLAN PARK’S VETERANS: A CENTURY OF CONNECTIONS
Self-guided Outdoor Historic Exhibition @ Callan Park + Broughton Hall
April + May 2024
The world needs no war memorials … in this or any other land … such memorials already exist … There are over 300 human war memorials in Callan Park … representing men whose nerves and brains gave way owing to the horrors they went through …1
Servicemen began returning to Australia from the horrific battlefields of WWI in 1915, some with terrible wounds and lost limbs, others with invisible wounds ─ shell-shock and trauma ─ needing places to convalesce.
Callan Park swiftly pivoted to accommodate veterans, becoming #28 Australian Auxiliary Hospital – a wartime military hospital. Broughton Hall, still a private estate, was lent by the Langdon family to the government, and after renovation by the extraordinary women of Red Cross, became a wartime military hospital in 1915, #13 Australian Auxiliary Hospital.
Between 1918 and 1961 Repatriation Department constructed 8 wards specifically for veterans + a social club + Cane Room + Bootmaker’s workshop + a Bowling green & clubhouse + Veterans’ Recreation Hall = a huge investment.
Veterans were among the last patients to leave when Callan Park closed in April 2008. FOCP continues to advocates for the delivery of a new, contemporary model of mental health services for veterans and the whole community.
Exhibition is located in three locations
- Callan Park War Memorial [near the Main Gate at Cecily Street]
- Sydney Harbour Bridge War Memorial [beside Waterfront Oval]
- Broughton Hall [small road off Wharf Road near Church Street]
See map below
Acknowledgements
NATIONAL TRUST HERITAGE FESTIVAL 2024 CONNECTIONS
FOCP’s 9th Exhibition on Veterans’ Connections is the first exhibition about the history of Veterans & Repatriation services at Callan Park & Broughton Hall.
Veterans’ stories (largely absent in recent decades)
are a huge part of the history of Callan Park, and of Broughton Hall
FOCP APPRECIATES PERMISSION TO INSTALL THIS EXHIBITION:
GREATER SYDNEY PARKLANDS ⚫ Stephanie Licciardo, Senior Manager Heritage & Culture
NSW MINISTRY OF HEALTH ⚫ Andy Ngo, Manager Finance Services & Asset Management
WE HELP OURSELVES ⚫ Garth Popple, Executive Director
ROZELLE HOSPITAL ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION ⚫ many people have generously shared personal + family recollections of Callan Park + Broughton Hall
… some of whom are cited in this Exhibition – thank you
DESIGNER & PRINTER ⚫ Rickie Swain @Wombat Grafx wombatgrafx.com
INNERWEST COUNCIl ⚫ Local History Grant
CURATOR ⚫ Roslyn Burge
Footnote 1: Frank Cotton, ‘The Living and the Dead’, The Australian Worker,
28 March 1928, p7
Many sources inform this exhibition ─ FOCP welcomes all enquiries: FOCP.admin@gmail.com
CALLAN PARK’S VETERANS : A CENTURY OF CONNECTIONS
FRIENDS OF CALLAN PARK 25+ YEARS OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISM • ADVOCACY • ACHIEVEMENT