The Commission's founder and vice chairman, Sir Fabian Ware, had submitted a memorandum to the 1917 Imperial War Conference outlining his concern for the upkeep of graves and sites of commemoration.

During the conflict, Ware had used his mobile British Red Cross Unit to register and care for graves, and had received countless requests from bereaved families for information regarding their loved ones.

He created a tall, finely proportioned stone cross, with a symbolic downward pointing sword of bronze attached to its face, thus emphasising both the military character of the cemetery and the religious affiliation of the majority of the dead.

[1] Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission cemeteries contain headstones of a standard pattern, usually set in perfectly straight rows.

These ideas were put into practice by the architects involved, in particular Sir Edwin Lutyens who worked closely with the renowned garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.

As that war progressed in the Allies' favour, the Commission began restoring its WWI cemeteries and memorials and commenced the task of commemorating 600,000 Commonwealth casualties from WWII.

The area between Atherton and Cairns was used extensively as a training ground during World War II for Australian troops involved in action in New Guinea, Bougainville and the later landings at Aitape-Wewak, Tarakan, Labuan and Balikpapan.

The Tablelands Base Area created a constant flow of Army traffic through Atherton's main street, as camps were set up to train troops in jungle warfare before their being sent to the islands north of Australia.

[1]The first burial in the Atherton War Cemetery took place following the death on 4 January 1943 of Gunner Andrew Mervyn Hemsworth, of the Royal Australian Artillery (Grave AC1).

[1] The last three burials arose from an explosion of cordite on 29 November 1946 during the post-war cleanup of an ammunition dump at 13 Australian Advanced Ordnance Depot at nearby Tolga.

The three members of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps working at the site were severely burned but managed to crawl over 1 mile (1.6 km) back to their headquarters.

The war cemetery occupies the north-western corner of the triangular shaped 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres) reserve which is bounded by Rockley Road to the north and the Kennedy Highway to the south-west.

The main entrance to the war cemetery is at the eastern end of the northern boundary which is formed by a brick pier and four-rail concrete fence.

MANY OF THE SERVICEMEN BURIED AT THIS SITE DIED IN LOCAL MILITARY HOSPITALS FROM WAR-RELATED WOUNDS, ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS.THE ATHERTON WAR CEMETERY CONTAINS 164 BURIALS, COMPRISING 151 AUSTRALIAN ARMY, 12 RAAF AND 1 YMCA MEMBER.A secondary service entrance for site management is located at the western end of the northern boundary fence with the remaining boundaries enclosed with mesh panel fencing.

[1] The Atherton War Cemetery contains 164 uniformly marked and spaced graves and a Cross of Sacrifice set within a manicured lawn and gardens.

Each of the graves is marked by a white marble headstone, rectangular in shape with a rounded top, carved military insignia, name, and rank of each soldier buried.

North Queensland in general and the Atherton Tablelands in particular were important military sites during this country's involvement in the war in the South-West Pacific between 1941 and 1945.

The Atherton War Cemetery is important as a memorial site to Australian soldiers and airmen who fought and died during the conflict, particularly in New Guinea.

These include uniform headstones in regular rows, the Cross of Sacrifice and manicured gardens; aspects of which appear in the 2,500 war cemeteries constructed in approximately 150 countries around the world and serve to make a dignified and reverential memorial site.