Charleville War Memorial

Charleville’s war memorial echoes the taste of southern states – an ornately carved marble obelisk rather than the Queensland favourite, ‘Digger’ statue. Queensland Governor Sir Matthew Nathan unveiled the £1000 square pillar monument, made from Italian marble, on 9 October 1924. Located in a park in Wills Street, It was erected by the people of Charleville and district and the sub-branch of the Returned and Services League. Australians were very proud of their army of volunteers—there was no conscription. Monuments like this one in Charleville provide a roll call of the 310 district heroes who signed up. The front panel bears the names of the 40 who died in WWI. The Charleville memorial is very similar in design to one in Esk and is thought to have been designed by Ipswich architect George Brockwell Gill. It was produced by masonry firm R C Ziegler and Son of Toowoomba. Names relating to later conflicts have been added to the memorial and two war trophies added to the park. Four granite ‘digger’ statues, representing a Catafalque party, together with eight dividing granite bollards were added to the memorial for ANZAC Day, April 2010.