St John's Church of England First World War Memorial Lamp, Molong

This war memorial is a brass lamp with a glass top that is suspended from the dome of the sanctuary in St John's Anglican Church in Molong. It has a light burning in perpetuity. The lamp is not accompanied by a dedicatory plaque or honour roll.

The Molong Express and Western District Advertiser, 18 April 1936, reported that the newly installed memorial lamp had been "presented by the returned soldiers of the district and their friends" and would be "an everlasting memorial to those who made the supreme sacrifice during or after the Great War." On 25 April, the Express advertised that the lamp would be dedicated on Sunday, 26 April by the Right Reverend A.L. Wylde, Bishop Coadjutor of Bathurst.

On the day of the service, the church was filled. Those gathered heard that the movement to establish the lamp was commenced by Reverend J.A. Poole and a list of those who had served and fallen was developed among the relatives and friends of the soldiers. Miss Kathleen Finch had the honour of turning on the lamp. A detailed description of the event was published in the Express on 2 May 1936, including the names of the soldiers read out by the Bishop.

The names of three soldiers who returned to Australia were included among those who died and were buried overseas. These three men were Corporal Albert Robert Pease, who died on 5 April 1935; Gunner Donald Tanner, who died on 11 November 1930; and Sergeant Alfred Woolbank, who died on 15 July 1932. Each man died as a result of war injuries.

The sanctuary lamp is available for viewing when the church is open for services.

Note: the names in the veterans table below are not inscribed on the lamp itself. They have been sourced from the names listed in the newspaper articles mentioned above.