Australian Roadside
Memorials 
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Australian Roadside
Memorials |
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States Queensland New South Wales Australian Capital Territory Victoria Tasmania South Australia Northern Territory Western Australia Historical Roadside Memorials Other Links
Australian Truck Drivers Memorial ABC Radio News Story on Australian Road Memorials World Roadside Memorial sites Submit Entry Template  |
The proliferation of roadside memorials throughout Australia is a phenomenon that has attracted a degree of debate in recent times within the media and other public forums. It is not a circumstance unique to Australia or, in fact, a recent phenomenon. There are many articles and web sites both within Australia and internationally that seek to explain and or document the instances in which memorials have been erected, as well as debate the merits of this activity. Throughout many countries such as Ireland, the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom, to name a few, one may find websites either cataloging these memorials or shrines, setting out local government regulation on the erection of road side memorials, advertising the sale of memorials, or providing debate and online discussion regarding the merits and perceived dangers of these memorials to the motoring public. Even Wikipedia has an entry on road side memorials. While one can comprehend the human desire to erect memorials over grave sites or the remains of people who have died, the factors that motivate a grieving relative(s) or friend(s) to erect a memorial at the very site where an individual's life expired, or mortal injuries were sustained, is quite a different proposition. Perhaps, it is based upon a more spiritual outlook with a desire to render 'sacred' or 'hallowed' the ground at that point where the soul of the deceased departed the human form. Whatever the reason, it is likely that road side memorials will continue to be erected in many countries either within or contrary to those guidelines promulgated by local government bodies in relation to them. Irrespective of the motivation behind these memorials, for many who observe them in the course of road travel, thoughts often drift between one's own mortality, the inherent dangers of driving, and a general sense of loss. While road deaths may not account for the greatest loss of human life, invariably those lives lost in road accidents are relatively young and one often ponders the loss to human kind of an inspirational life or talent left unfulfilled. This web site is not intended as a venue for debate on the appropriateness or otherwise of road side memorials; rather it is merely an attempt to catalogue those that have been erected to provide a lasting record of memorials which, over time, often fall into disrepair. This activity is similar to the undertaking of the US Friends Along The Road who seek to collate a world wide database of road side memorials. Please feel free to navigate through each State/Territory Site to see the detail of those road memorials recorded to date. If you wish to contribute to this photographic journal either through the provision of new memorials sites, or by adding additional data in relation to existing entries on this site, then please feel free to submit your information. A template has been developed to assist and these, along with supporting photographs should be emailed to the site manager. The originator of each new entry or update will be duly recognised within the database unless they indicate a preference to remain anonymous. Go to "Submit Entry" to contribute to this collection. Note: A condition of download is that the user agrees not to use this material for commercial gain. 
(Last updated: 10 August 2008) Total Roadside Memorial Sites at Last Update : 209 |