The marble and granite memorial honours the 292 local men who served during the First World War, including the 38 fallen.

In 1891 the town was the site of one of Queensland's most significant events, the shearer's strike which caused widespread unrest and ultimately lead to the formation of the Australian Labour Party.

Shortly after this, artesian water was discovered, causing an influx of people followed by a rush of development, including a brewery, meat processing plants and other new industries.

The word "cenotaph", commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means "empty tomb".

Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war.

[1] Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste.

[1] Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.

The form of a clock was decided upon by public ballot held in 1922 after the Barcaldine Shire Council initiated the proposal for a memorial.

[1] The First World War Memorial is situated in the middle of the intersection of Ash and Beech Streets, Barcaldine and is a dominant feature in the streetscape.

[1] Rising from the plinth is the pedestal comprising recessed square plates of a finer marble with engaged pillars at each corner.

[3] Barcaldine War Memorial Clock was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state.