The Penola Town Square is an ongoing project being progressed by Wattle Range Council and members of the Penola community.
The Penola Town Square is a central meeting place where residents, visitors, and tourists can be both reflective and have fun. They can also participate in a variety of community events and activities in this social and cultural hub.
Through its distinctive Commemorative Walk, which highlights sacrifice, courage, mateship, and loyalty, the Town Square celebrates our town’s history and ancestry by honouring those men and women who actively served with the Australian Defence Forces from the Crimean War to current times. Through its proposed public art installations, the strength and character of our pioneering women will be celebrated.
The Penola Town Square will indeed contribute to the social, cultural and economic life of our historic town.
A community-based consultation group has been formed to continue to develop the square considering the needs and desires of current and future users of the space.
If you would like to be involved you can contact the group via their Facebook page here
Penola Town Square News
Penola Town Square Commemorative Walk
The Penola and district community has created this Commemorative Walk in honour of local military personnel who played their part in the nation’s military history, from the Crimean War to current service. These men and women sacrificed so much to serve our country. Some paid the ultimate sacrifice, whilst for others who returned the horrors of war never left them. Since this is an agricultural region, many soldier settlers came here and were an integral part of our community’s development.
The Commemorative Walk comprises 207 pavers engraved with 414 names. The research process was conducted by the Coonawarra Penola RSL and the Penola Local History Group, with input from families in our community. We anticipate that more names will come to light over time. If you would like to recommend someone for inclusion, please contact the Coonawarra Penola RSL.
A full list of names is available here
The Commemorative Walk was made possible by funding from Veterans SA, Penola Lions Club and Merrett Logging.
Disclaimer: Whereas every attempt has been made to ensure the details on the pavers are correct, we appreciate that due to the complexities of finding full records, and human error, some details may not be correct. We apologise if this has happened.