Springthorpe Memorial

It has dark marble columns, granite pediments and entablatures adorned with serpent-head gargoyles at each corner, and a stained glass domed roof.

This is reflected in the choice of materials including, marble from Carrara, green granite from Labrador, Bronze, cast iron cased in copper, mosaic tiles and glass.

[4] All aspects of the memorial, including the sculpture, structure and ornament are imbued with meaning which combined with the large range of materials gives it a broad level of engagement.

Motivated by the desire to be reunited with his wife, Annie, Dr Springthorpe found comfort in a dual commitment to the Protestant church and to building a structure that would capture the complexity of his intense grief.

Such devotion created a need to manifest something more solid and more sustaining than traditional forms of memorialising; of conceiving a '`whole [that] is more than a Tomb [but]…is the Real made Ideal – an apotheosis of love for all true lovers to the end of Time with its tale of loss, memory, separation and Reunion.

[4] In the original sketches by Desbrowe-Annear, one metope at the end of the memorials frieze was to be filled with a classically inspired laurel wreath, but the completed scheme instead used sculptural bronze snake heads, designed by prominent Melbourne artist and close friend to Springthorpe, Sir John Longstaff.

Two stanzas from this poem are inscribed in north elevation of the memorial: [5] The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven.” It is worth noting too, that Annie is depicted in sculpture holding a bouquet of three lilies with a crown of seven stars ( the wreath has since been removed).