Historical information

Opened by His Excellency Sir Eric Neal AC CVO on 30 September 2001, the Memorial is located in City Park, Port Pirie, South Australia. The monument commemorates those who were lost at sea while serving with the Merchant Navy.
Mr Noel Smith, a resident of Port Pirie, former Merchant Navy seaman and Port Pirie tugboat officer designed the memorial, found the anchor located on the top of the memorial during a dredging operation in a creek near the Nystar plant and wrote the poem inscribed on the main plaque.

Front Inscription
Lost Ones

They live in the curl of the breaking wave,
They sing when the sea winds blow,
They lay not confined in a land locked grave,
Nor in dim dark depths below.

Do you hear them laugh in the rippling tide,
Call free in the ocean breeze ?
Do you see them soar where great gulls glide
At peace with the fearsome seas ?

They live still in the hearts of those who wait
Held strong in the bonds of love
'Til their souls unite and congregate
In God`s great harbour above.

Noel Smith
Merchant Seaman

For those who were lost to the depths of the sea
Emma Hindmarsh

Left Side Inscription
Memorial unveiled by His Excellency Sir Eric Neal AC CVO Governor of South Australia and His Worship the Mayor Ken Madigan Port Pirie Regional Council

Memorial blessed and consecrated by Right Reverend Garry Weatherill Bishop of Willochra

30 September 2001

Physical description

Colour photograph of the memorial made of an anchor on a bricks and stones base with a black marble plaque titled The Lost Ones. The logo of the Merchant Navy, MN, on the top left corner of the plaque.

References