First Boer War Memorial

First Boer War Memorial

The small Southern Downs township of Allora, was the first place in Australia to erect a First Boer War Memorial to the local men who fought during 1899-1902. It was unveiled on Wednesday 19 October 1902, by Colonel Harry Chauvel. The memorial is made of sandstone, quarried from the nearby town of Yangan. It comprises of an ornate pedestal upon which stands an almost life-sized sandstone statue of a Light Horseman with his head bowed and arms reversed – typifying sorrow. The names of the thirty-nine local men appear on marble plates around the pedestal, including those of the four men who died while in service.

FALLEN SOLDIERS’ MEMORIAL – UNVEILING AT ALLORA

ALLORA, Wednesday.

The unveiling of the Allora fallen soldiers’ memorial took place today, in the presence of a large concourse of spectators. The day was observed as a close holiday. The proceedings commenced with a military parade, headed by the local band, and in which a large number of civilians took part. The unveiling ceremony was conducted by Colonel Chauvel, in the unavoidable absence of the Commandant. Mr. W Deacon introduced the Colonel, stating that the memorial had been chiefly built by the youth of Allora and the returned comrades of the fallen men, and that wherever those men were buried, it is the memorials in Allora that would be looked upon as their burial place. This monument was a credit not only to Allora, but to the State and to Australia as a whole. There had scarcely been a fight in the Boer War in which an Allora man had not been present, and general McDonald had said that after the fight at Sunnyside hats were raised where the emu plumes were seen. If Great Britain should ever be embroiled in another war the emu feathers from the Darling Downs would be there to win glory and honour for the empire.

Source: 1904 ‘FALLEN SOLDIERS’ MEMORIAL.’, The Brisbane Courier (QLD: 1864 – 1933), 20 October, p.7

The marble plates at the front of the pedestal bear the dedicatory and unveiling inscriptions, together with a patriotic verse by the local poet, J K Cameron.

Boer War dedication Plaque in Memorial Park, Warwick Street, Allora QLD 4362