Cream concrete obelisk with brass plate on front
The Evelyn War Memorial is now all that now remains of the town. It serves as a reminder of those who served in far away battles and is also an illustration of the once bustling farming and timber getting community in an area that is now sparsely populated. A dawn service is held at the Memorial each ANZAC Day in commemoration of those who served.
The Evelyn Scrub War Memorial was erected after the First World War [1914-18] on land set aside for the purpose by Edward Daniel, c1919. It lists the names of all the men from the Evelyn district who had served in the war. Forty-one names are recorded on the memorial.
The Memorial stands on private property on the Jonsson Road, off the Tumoulin to Ravenshoe Road in the southern Atherton Tablelands.
The Memorial is in the form of a substantial pedestal supporting a narrow pointed obelisk topped with a spherical object. The entire monument is concrete. Forty-one names and fates of the men from Evelyn Scrub who served in the Great War are attached to a brass plaque secured to one side of the pedestal behind a glass screen. Of particular interest is the inclusion of the name of an aboriginal person (designated as such) listed among those who died in service. A second plaque is fixed below the first, dedicated to the pioneers of the Evelyn Scrub by the Evelyn Social and Sports Club in 1983.
A single flagstaff stands five metres from the memorial on the southern side. There are no associated gardens or plantings remaining at the Memorial.
Behind a set of cattle yards, in a beautiful glade of gumtrees, a lone Cenotaph plays host to the Evelyn Sunrise Service.
Known as Evelyn Scrub War Memorial, the Cenotaph is the sole reminder of the farming community that existed there prior to WWI. Sadly, more than 70% of the local men who enlisted were killed or wounded in the war. As a result, the community faded out of existence, leaving just the Cenotaph as a reminder of the past.
The Cenotaph stood abandoned until the early 1970s. Since then, Herberton and Ravenshoe RSL Sub Branches have jointly maintained the site and, each ANZAC Day, run the Evelyn Sunrise Service.
The site of this cenotaph was donated by Mr Edward Daniel, c1919. His son had been killed at Gallipoli. Mr Daniel owned a store located on a block adjacent to where the cenotaph now stands. The Site was part of a speculation sub-division for a proposed town, Mt Gibson to take advantage of one of the proposed routes for the Herberton to Ravenshoe Railway. The railway was constructed to the west of Evelyn resulting in the towns of Kaban and Tomoulin. Evelyn Central, (or Evelyn Scrubs) gradually depopulated after WWI, only a scattering of of houses remain in what was a pioneer settlement. Mr Daniel moved his business to Tomoulin, and later to Ravenshoe.
