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Gympie bandstand and gardens strike chord with heritage register

Gympie’s Memorial Park has been recognised as a place of state cultural heritage significance.

It’s one of the latest places to be entered in the Queensland heritage register by the Queensland Heritage Council (QHC), the state’s independent advisor on heritage matters.

QHC chair David Eades said Memorial Park was one of the most intact of the early 20^th century collaborative efforts of landscape designer Henry (Harry) Moore and architect AH Foster.

Brisbane’s well-known New Farm Park is another of their designs.

“Both men were employees of Brisbane City Council and created popular and much-admired public parks and gardens within Brisbane,” Mr Eades said.

“The fact that Moore and Foster were invited to design the park layout and bandstand at Gympie is testament to the popularity and wider influence of their work soon after World War One.”

Gympie’s Memorial Park was established in 1919 to 1921 as a lasting tribute to the 167 citizens of Gympie and surrounds who had died during the Great War of 1914-18 and two fallen soldiers from the Boer War.

It retains early design elements including the connection between the laneway off Mary Street and the Memorial Park, walkways radiating from the central focus of the decorative timber bandstand, plantings and curved garden beds.

QHC member and Gympie Regional councillor Donna Neilson, who abstained from voting on the heritage nomination to avoid any conflict of interest, said she was delighted by the decision.

“Memorial Park is the story of how a community pulled together in the wake of immense sadness. The spirit that went into building this park also built this nation,” Cr Neilson said.

The 1.47ha triangle of land, wedged between River Road and Reef Street, was donated by the Henderson family who owned Ferguson and Co Union Sawmill.

 

Public donations of just over £5,500 funded the park’s landscaping and structures.

Twelve returned servicemen were among the construction workers.

The next Queensland Heritage Council meeting will be held in Gympie today (Friday 9 October).

 

Did you know?

• Memorial Park was originally known as The Gympie and Widgee District Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Park.
• The park is located in Nash’s Gully, named after James Nash who found gold in Gympie, sparking the state’s first major gold rush.
• Edward Prince of Wales visited the park in August 1920 before its official opening.
• The park officially opened in April 1921. More than 2000 people packed the park to celebrate.
• The Memorial Gates, which carry the names of local soldiers who lost their lives fighting, were heritage-listed in 1992.

 Date: 9 october 2009