Soldiers' Memorial Hall

63 Nicholas Street

The Pump Yard & Central Gardens

The site chosen, the Central Gardens, once contained a freshwater spring, visited by Aboriginal people of the Ugarapul group. When Henry Wade surveyed the town, following the region's opening to European settlers in 1842, the area around the spring was noted as a reserve for water.  The site was used as a brickworks c.1855 when Thomas Welldon, and his assistant Joseph Rice, took up residence there to make bricks for St Paul's Church.  In 1862, the spring was converted into a water tank, with bricks and slabs of timber.  At a later point, a pump was installed and the Ipswich Municipal Council designated it an official water reserve with a lessee appointed to manage the springs.  Council by-laws allowed each resident to take up to four buckets of water from the spring each day.  Additional water could be purchased for two pence a cask. 

With the opening of a pump station at Kholo, the Pump Yard became neglected and was considered an eyesore by the early 1890s.  A group of local cricketers joined the then mayor, architect Henry Wyman, to convert the area into a recreation ground, the Central Gardens.  A bandstand was erected around 1909 and the gardens became the site of many concerts, fetes and civic events, including the public memorial service for King Edward VII on 20th May 1910.

The Returned Soliders and Sailors Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA)

Formed in 1916, the Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) opened its Ipswich sub-branch on the 1st September 1917.  The first officials were J.M. Gilmour (president), J. Barbat (secretary) and S. O'Farrell (treasurer).  Early meetings were held at several locations around Ipswich, including Barbat's Engineering Works (North Ipswich), Greenham Chambers (corner of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets), Hargraves Building (Nicholas Street) and the St Paul's Young Men's Club Hall, which was then being used as a soldiers' rest room.

Even before the war had finished in 1918, honour boards and monuments with the names of the enlisted were being erected in Ipswich.  Monuments were added to suburban parks and usually took the form of a column bearing the names of the enlisted, with a statue of a Digger on top.  Timber honour boards were commissioned by community groups, including churches, choirs and even workplaces.  The idea for a memorial hall was presented to Council in September 1918 when Barbat and O'Farrell requested land be set aside at the Central Gardens (a number of patriotic fundraising events had been held in the gardens).  With Council's agreement, the Department of Lands provided land in the Central Gardens and a loan of £6,000 was granted by the government to Council to commence construction.  An additional £1,250 was raised by the RSSILA, £500 from the Patriotic Committee, with further funds raised by the Train Tea Ladies, Comforts Clubs of Blackstone, Silkstone and Booval, the Australian Women's Service Corps, the local bridge drive committee,and the Red Cross Society.  In total, building costs were £12,000.

The Foundation Stone 

When General Birdwood (1865-1951), affectionately known as the Digger-in-Chief following his command of the ANZAC forces at Gallipoli, toured Australia in 1920, he visited Ipswich on the 4th May to lay the foundation stone of the Hall.  His visit was an important civic occasion, with hundreds of people turning out to see him.  Arriving by train, he was greeted at East Ipswich Station by Mayor Lobb, Capt. Jos Francis (then president of the Ipswich Sub-branch of the RSSILA) and over 300 uniformed returned solders.  Traveling by car to Queens Park, he presented military decorations, before a civic luncheon at the Town Hall, a visit to the Ipswich Railway Workshops and finally, at 3pm, he led a parade to the Central Gardens to lay the foundation stone.  When the general returned to the station, he was greeted by the ladies of the Train Tea Society, who presented him with a walking stick.

The Soldiers' Memorial Hall

The Ipswich Solders' Memorial Hall was officially opened on the 26th November, 1921 by Queensland Governor Sir Matthew Nathan.

Designed by architect George Brockwell Gill, and overseen by contractor Frederick James Lye, the brickwork was supplied by A. Mansfield, plastering by J. Jamieson, joinery by Arthur Foote, plumbing by J. Cuthbert, painting, J.W. Wallis, electrical by W.J. Trattles.

According to its entry in the Ipswich Heritage Study ,1992, the building is:

... an elaborately conceived design ... in a variant of Edwardian Baroque.  The street elevation is strongly modelled with a tall cement rendered central section projecting in front of a predominantly brick background.  This front section is more overtly classical in detail than the rest of the building, having a triangular pediment to the upper balustrade, and below this a segmental pediment over the large central ground floor opening, which is circular with rusticated voussoirs and keystone.  The pediment contains the 'rising sun' military badge in relief.  The brick section flanking this rendered facade section has less ostentatious detailing including visible hipped roofs and bevelled corners, trowing the visual emphasis forward to the rendered classical facade.  Internally the building has a basement and two upper floors.  The vestibule holds the marble and silk oak 'crypt' containing honour rolls bearing the names of locally enlisted soldiers ...

The Hall was entered into the Queensland Heritage Register on 21st October 1992.  Its significance is attributed to the Hall's demonstration of the patriotic fervour associated with World War I; its rare example of a very substantial brick soldiers' hall; its honour chamber, memorial tablets, meeting rooms, recreation rooms and offices demonstrating the use of the hall by returned soldiers; the value the Ipswich community has for it, and its contribution to the townscape; as an example of George Brockwell Gill's work; and becuase of its long association with the RSL and other groups, including Legacy, Women's Auxiliary and War Widows. 

When the building opened, the Ipswich School of Arts Library (managed by Council) occupied the top floor, until 1947.  The basement level contained  recreation facilities for returned soldiers (including billiards, games, and refreshment rooms) and the ground floor held the memorial "crypt" (honour chamber), assembly room, secretary's office and lounge.  The building has been used by many community groups including Legacy, the Red Cross as a Blood Bank,  the Bush Book Club and by billiards clubs and for dances.  Today, the upper floor contains the Ipswich Soldiers Memorial Hall Museum.

The Memorial Window

Sir Matthew Nathan returned to the hall on 30th November 1922 to unveil the memorial window.  Funds for the window were raised by the Elizabeth Cameron and the Train Tea Society. Designed by painter and stained-glass widow artist William Bustard, the window was made by R.S. Exton and Company, Brisbane, under the supervision of C.H. Lancaster, and the glass was imported from England.

St Michael, the Angel of Victory, stands with outspread wings in the center of the window, embracing four soldiers (representing the 9th, 15th and 26th Battalions and the 5th Light Horse).  St Michael stands on a globe, with a crushed German eagle lying at the base.  In his hands is a sheathed sword and a Palm of Victory.  Behind this tableau is the field of Flanders, complete with scarlet poppies, crosses and cherubs.  The border of grape vines symbolised life.  Inscriptions at the bottom include the dates (1914-1918) and the Latin words vincit qui patitur (he who is patient, conquers).

When the RSL Services Club was opened in 1979, the memorial window was relocated to the new premises, before being returned to its rightful place at the Soldiers' Memorial Hall in 2006.