In October last year, the Gympie Regional Council announced their endorsement of the Gympie RSL’s “upgrades” to the heritage-listed WWI Memorial Park and Memorial Lane at their
Ordinary Meeting of 25 September 2024.
The petition was requesting the council to stop joint upgrades by Gympie RSL and council until transparent and broader consultation was had with community stakeholders.
The request also included that the council stop referring the state heritage-listed Memorial Park to the Fallen in online project upgrades as the RSL Memorial Park and to be transparent to the community stakeholders regarding the project’s contribution of $150,000 for lighting upgrade and the additional $10,000 to assist with the delivery of the RSL project.
At the same meeting, the Council endorsed the removal of the fernery, citing flood damage in 2022, but the council’s adjoining building will remain.
The council will use the $100,000 combined Federal and State funding from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority to demolish the fernery instead of repairing or restoring the structure.
The vacant area will then become an embankment to provide further open space adjoining the “upgrade” of Gympie RSL’s intrusive stainless-steel memorial flame and cenotaph area.
The fernery is a significant element within the heritage conception and planning of the Memorial Park since 1919.
The Memorial Parks Conservation Management Plan, endorsed by the council in 2018 by current councillors Hartwig and Curran, was ignored by all Councillors in September 2024, with no broad public engagement or forums engaging the community.
The council has continued to avoid respectful, meaningful, and transparent community engagement and social inclusion in their procedures and decision-making in the public interest regarding Gympie RSL “upgrades” to our two significant war memorials.
The local commemoration on Anzac Day, hosted by Gympie RSL and the council, will unveil significant changes to our 20th-century heritage fabric, where conservation was ignored to
install 21st Century elements such as a new memorial flame, gas bottles, and a change of path hierarchy to incorporate the council’s urban planning into the WWI Memorial Park.
The other significant memorial was the dedicated Memorial Flame to the Fallen from all theatres of war and conflicts, at the Reef Street end of Memorial Lane, was excavated to install
garden beds and trees.
I’d like to thank the community for taking up arms at short notice to fight for our right to be heard, engaged, and involved regarding decisions of our heritage and memorials to our local fallen who paid the ultimate sacrifice in their service to this Nation.
– Tanya Easterby
Gympie
