Shrine under construction

Born in New Zealand to Australian parents, Philip Hudson trained as an architect before enlisting in the AIF in 1915. After serving on the Western Front, Hudson was granted compassionate leave and returned to Australia in 1918 to care for his then ill wife and their two children. In 1919 Hudson formed an architectural partnership with James Wardrop, himself a returned serviceman, and who like Hudson had trained under the British born architect Charles D’ebro.

This sketch, made by Hudson in 1931, shows the construction of the North pediment. The construction company Vaughan & Lodge employed returned soldiers to quarry the stone and lay the building's foundations. The completed building was dedicated by the Duke of Gloucester on 11 November 1934. Two of Hudson’s brothers had died in the war and his sister had served in in the Australian Army Nursing Service.