Burketown Shire Council First World War Honour Board

The main memorial honour board to those who lived in the Burketown district and who served in the Australian forces during the First World War is located in the Burketown Shire Council building. This roll of honour was initiated and erected by the council “in honour of the brave boys from Burketown and district who responded to the call for King and country” and lists the names of forty-six individuals who served, including those who fell.

The Burketown Shire Council memorial honour board is a Wunderlich design pressed metal board, of copper, similar to the many other metal honour boards erected around Australia following the First World War. Wunderlich Limited was one of Australia’s foremost manufacturers of military badges and memorials for both world wars and there are many examples of the company’s memorials and honour boards throughout the country. The majority of the honour boards represent the art nouveau styling that characterised much of Wunderlich’s stamped and pressed metal products. The majority of this output was between the early 1900s and the 1930s, but especially after the First World War. A similar Wunderlich style Second World War honour board is also on display with the dedication, “Roll of Honour – Burke Shire Council – a tribute to the men and women of this area who responded to the call to serve the empire 1939 – 1945”. There are twenty-one individuals named on this honour board, included two who died on active service.

The main Burketown war memorial is located in the centre of the town, at the intersection of Musgrave and Burke Streets, in a prominent memorial precinct. It is a cairn style memorial, painted white, with a three stepped base on a concrete foundation. The memorial has three plaques prominently attached with dedications to the “conflicts in which Australians have served, to those who have died as a result of war”, as well as a general dedication plaque for the erection of the memorial.

Burketown Shire Council First World War Honour Board

This image, taken from the Queensland War Memorial Register, shows the Burketown First World War honour board.

Brian Randall, Queensland Places Coordinator, State Library of Queensland.