NB: Missing names in centre panels
Large wooden honour board with turned pillars and brass name plates
The Board is 23ft 6in wide, and the height at centre is 13ft 6in.
The following North Queensland Timbers were used in the construction of the Board viz, Red Oak, Ball Oak, Fut?? Oak, Plain Oak, Kauri Pine, Hoogi Pine, Bird's Rye Pine, pencil Cedar, Acacia Cedar, Dark Cedar, ??? Cedar, White Beach, Red Beach, Maple, Silkwood, Crowsfoot Elm, Walnut, Bean Tree, Hickory, Mountain Ash.
The Panels are of Oxydised Copper, Corinthian Capitals in the Archway, and the Circular Panels are also of Oxydised Cooper.
The Wreath is Carved Silky Oak
The Columns are Silky Oak
The Cornice and the Dado Mould are Beantree
The Framing is of Cedar with Panels of Cedar below Dado Mouldings
All Lettering is Oxydised Copper
The Name Plates are Brass, the size of same being 4in by 1 1/2 in
The Ceremony of Unveiling was performed by the Right Worshipful The Mayor (Alderman J.E. Clegg) on 6th November 1917
In January 1917 tenders were called for the construction of an Honour board for the Townsville City Council to honour the enormous contribution the men and women of Townsville, North Queensland and this country had been making in the Great War.
Designed by Mr. Stephen Harvey and built by J. Holmes Joinery Works, the Honour Board was unveiled on the 6th November 1917, and installed in the Old Town Hall in Flinders Street.
The Board is made entirely of North Queensland timber. The columns and the carved wreath are of Silky Oak, the cornices and the dado mouldings are of Bean tree, and the surrounding framing is Cedar.
The boards display the names of people from Townsville and surrounding Communities who served in the First World War, as well as acknowledging those who paid the supreme sacrifice.
The names of those Killed in the War are displayed in the Centre Panel.
In July 1969 the Honour Boards were extensively damaged by a fire that went through the City Hall. After the fire the council dismantled the boards to rebuild the city hall.
In 1976 the council chambers were moved to new buildings in Walker Street and the boards were with the RSL ‘to utilise and restore’.
In February 1978, a fire much worse than the first gutted the building storing the boards, with both the WW1 and WW2 boards being damaged.
Taken to Lavarack Barracks they were restored and then mounted in their present location in Jezzine Barracks in 1981.
Now, as museum artefacts, they are kept conserved, and can neither be altered, added to or amended.
