Mitchell War Memorial

Mitchell War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Cambridge Street, Mitchell, Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed and built in 1927 by Andrew Lang Petrie and Son. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe Mitchell War Memorial was unveiled in 1927. It was designed and produced by monumental masonry firm A L Petrie of Toowong, Brisbane and honours the 51 local fallen of the First World War. It cost £464, which was raised by local residents.The Mitchell Downs run was taken up during the 1850s. A Post Office opened at Mitchell Downs in 1865 with mail services commencing for the surrounding district at this time. The Reserve for the town of Mitchell was gazetted in 1869, on the site of the Mitchell Downs head station, the owners having erected another homestead further west. The Booringa Division was gazetted in 1879 and Mitchell became the administrative centre for the Division and later the Booringa Shire. The Western railway line was extended to Mitchell in 1885, and Mitchell consolidated its position as the business centre of the surrounding pastoral district.Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60,000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.