What is the Evacuation Memorial in Gibraltar and where is it?
Short answer
The Evacuation Memorial is a statue by Jill Cowie Saunders showing Gibraltarian families reunited after the Second World War. It stands on the roundabout on Waterport Road known locally as the Evacuation Roundabout.
Detailed answer
The Evacuation Memorial is a statue honouring the Gibraltarian civilians who were evacuated during the Second World War. It is the work of the sculptor Jill Cowie Saunders and shows families reunited after the war. The scene reflects how the evacuation divided households: women, children, the elderly and the infirm were sent away, while men in essential war work stayed behind in Gibraltar.
The statue stands on the roundabout on Waterport Road known locally as the Evacuation Roundabout, just outside the City Walls. Government announcements have also referred to it as the Evacuation Monument at Waterport Terraces. The site is close to the old ferry terminal, which the Chief Minister described in 2015 as the place where many Gibraltarians embarked.
The memorial was unveiled in 2000. In 2014 the sculpture appeared on the £2 stamp in a set issued by the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau to mark the 75th anniversary of the evacuation.
On Friday 22 May 2015, the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, and the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, unveiled a commemorative plaque at the monument to mark 75 years since the evacuation. The date matched the anniversary of the first vessel carrying evacuees from Gibraltar to French Morocco in May 1940. A memorial event for more than 800 registered evacuees followed that evening in Casemates Square. It had first been planned for the monument itself and was moved because so many evacuees had registered to attend.
The evacuation took place in 1940, when around 16,000 civilians who were not considered essential to Gibraltar's defence were moved out so that the Rock could be reinforced as a military base. They went first to French Morocco. After France capitulated they were brought back to Gibraltar and then sent on to London, Jamaica, Madeira and Northern Ireland. About 2,000 of them went to Madeira. For a fuller account, see the FAQ on why Gibraltar's civilians were evacuated during the Second World War and where they went.