Rosewood Memorial Hall

The Memorial Hall was erected in William Street in 1954 to commemorate those who have served in the various conflicts in which Australia has been involved. It was built by returned World War II diggers, mainly using voluntary labour.  It was moved to its present site in Anzac Park on 23-24 January 1979 with the help of the National Fitness Committee, along with a war memorial that had been at the front of the building.

“The Hall Building Committee of the Rosewood Sub-branch of the R.S.S.A.I.L.A at a meeting on 23rd April 1954 decided to adopt the modified plans submitted for the erection of the new Memorial Hall. It is intended that £4000 shall be spent, and the building will be carried out by Mr. Fred Lacey, a member of the sub-branch, with whatever active help other members can give from time to time. The site, which is William Street, has been levelled and will be pegged out for the blocks in the immediate future.” Queensland Times (Ipswich), 24th April 1954.

On Friday, 20 May 1955 a Grand Opening Ball of the Rosewood Memorial Hall (R.S.S.A.I.L.A. Rosewood Sub-branch) was held. Inside the hall there is a Rosewood Honour Board 1914-1919. There is a wooden plaque on the back wall of the stage which bears the words of the first verse of the poem written by Rev. Edward Hunt in honour of the significant event of the hall’s official opening. Rev. Hunt was the minister at the Church of England, and author A Minstrel on the Moreton : a book of local verse.

ANZAC park was already in existence before the hall was moved there and on Anzac Day in1923, a ceremony was held to unveil the war trophies obtained from the Queensland State War Trophy Committee. They were a German 15cm SFH Heavy Artillery Howitzer gun and German 76mm Minenwerfer Trench Mortar and can be seen there still. They were rededicated back to the town on 27 July 2002 by an original Dungaree Eric Abraham.

More monuments have been added to the area with a memorial to the Dungarees who marched through Rosewood 25 November 1915 on their way to enlist. The patriotic march began in Warwick 16 November with 28 marchers and by the time they reached Brisbane they had grown in number to 125. The monument is also a memorial to those who reenacted the march, passing through Rosewood 21 April 1998.

When the hall was sited in William Street, it was a venue for many balls and dances, as well as catering for gymnastics, judo and boxing clubs. Other organisations that made use of the hall were the CWA, the schools and churches for fancy dress balls, concerts and speech nights. The hall was hired out for various events such as weddings and birthdays. At one Debutante Ball in 1961, the Debs were presents to past Rosewood resident Sir Gordon Chalk.  When the Baptist Church moved from Lanefield to Rosewood they held both Sunday Services in the Memorial until their Church was built around 1960-61. The hall served as a polling booth on election days. It was used for some immunisation programs such as polio at both sites.

Once the old Slipper Factory was moved from Railway Street to the showgrounds in the early 1970s, the hall did not host as many events. When it moved to ANZAC Park, it continued to host some sporting groups, but they no longer operate. Boxing tournaments were a feature for some in the 1980s with students from Ashwell State School taking part. Happy holiday club was run from there through Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1980s. In around 2005-2010 there were dance classes, women’s, girl’s and boy’s, Jazz, tap, and boys stomp. Since about 2009, the hall has been the home to the Rosewood Women’s Group. The Rosewood RSL Sub Branch meet there and it has been leased by them since 2021. After an early morning parade, an ANZAC Day dawn service is held there each year attracting crowds of up to 800.

Hall bookings are administered by the Ipswich City Council.