This war memorial is a large timber honour roll for the First World War. It has an overall rectangular shape, with a pointed top edge. It features a bronze Rising Sun emblem at the top of the board, inscribed with the words 'Advance Australia'.
The roll lists the names of 900 Auburn men, plus that of Nurses Atwood and Wood, who enlisted for service in the war. They are printed in gold across three metal panels, attached to the main body of the board. Thirteen of the men listed had the surname 'Jones', the largest name category by far. The names of all men from Auburn's primary memorial, the Auburn War Memorial, are found on this roll, except for Alexander Hood.
The original version of the roll was installed and unveiled at the Auburn Council Chambers in the early 1920s. It is reasonable to assume the names on this board were drawn from the lists held by the Auburn War Memorial committee, as all the spelling mistakes on the Auburn War Memorial bar one, John Arnott, have been repeated on this board. Those who compiled the names for the board also added some mistakes of their own—they turned the correct Wolff into Wolfe and the correct Hickin into Hicken. There are also several discrepancies between the initials on the Auburn War Memorial and initials on this board.
With the opening of the new Auburn Council Chambers and Town Hall, and the demolition of the old Town Hall, the roll was relocated to the Auburn RSL sub-Branch Club in Northumberland Road. It was mounted on the wall of the 'Anzac Room'. The matching roll for the Second World War, listed separately on the NSW War Memorials Register as the Municipality of Auburn Second World War Honour Roll, was also moved at that time.
The First World War roll was originally all timber. In 2000, the names were redone on the metal panels, which were affixed to the original backing board. This project was undertaken by the Auburn RSL sub-Branch and financed by a 'Their Service – Our Heritage' grant. It is possible this refurbishment led to the asterisk being left off for A. H. Marshall, W. S. Ryan, and R. Webster, indicating they made the supreme sacrifice.
At the end of 2014, the Northumberland Road property was sold and the club vacated the premises. Since then, the Cumberland RSL sub-Branch has cared for both rolls at their offices, located at Suite 7, Ground Floor, 1-5 Harrow Road, Auburn.