The town of Gympie acquired city status in 1905 and at the outbreak of war in 1914 was the centre of a well-populated timber-getting, sawmilling, dairying and agricultural district.

[1] On 9 January 1919 a group of prominent citizens met to establish the Gympie and Widgee District Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Fund and to discuss how best to honour the community's war dead.

[1][2] There were two main difficulties with the site offered by Mr Henderson: there was no direct access from Mary Street (Gympie's principal commercial thoroughfare); and it lay below the flood mark.

The Gympie Sub-Branch of the Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) supported the sawmill site, if access from Mary Street could be obtained.

Over the next months buildings and fences associated with the former sawmill were dismantled and money received from the sale of the timber in these structures was put toward forming and improving the park.

He rarely used straight paths and formal, classical designs, preferring the fluidity of gently curving gravelled pedestrian walkways radiating from a few entrance points.

He favoured the use of raised, dry-stone walled rockery beds with dramatic displays of flowering annuals, perennials and shrubs (roses were a particular favourite of his) in bold, massed-planting arrangements.

At the park, Moore laid out a scheme of gently curving gravel walkways leading from perimeter gates toward a central bandstand.

The walkway leading from the bandstand to the corner of Young Street and River Road appears to be lined with an avenue of possibly Cabbage Palms alternating with pines (Conifer spp.

Four raised, circular or elliptical garden beds were set out within open grassed areas of the park – three along the River Road side and one north of the walkway leading from Reef Street to the bandstand.

A few perimeter shade trees had been planted, but much of the area east of the bandstand remained an open grassy space, where seats were set out when band concerts were being performed.

At a later date, an additional set of concrete stairs was added to the east side of the bandstand, and still later (late 1960s or 1970s), the roof was re-clad with terracotta tiles.

The opening coincided with a "carnival and continental cafe" in the park conducted by the RSSILA to raise funds for improving their hall in nearby Reef Street, and attracted a crowd of over 2,000.

[3][4][5] During World War II (1939–1945) the Gympie City Council constructed underground air-raid shelters in the memorial park, adjacent to the band rotunda.

On Armistice Day 1988, a memorial stone in the park was dedicated to the citizens of Gympie and Widgee Shire who had served in military campaigns in Korea (August 1950-July 1953); Malaya/Malaysia (June 1948-July 1960), Borneo (February 1964-August 1966) and Vietnam (July 1962-January 1973).

[1] In 2013, the Gympie Regional Council proposed the construction of a $22.7 million levee to protect the CBD area (including the Memorial Park) from future flooding.

Linked with Mary Street via a walkway that contains the heritage-listed Gympie and Widgee War Memorial Gates, the park is an attractive green space in the heart of town.

Consisting of lawns, circular and oval rose garden beds, paved walkways and a wide variety of mature trees, it retains much of its original form and continues to accommodate many of the functions carried out there since its establishment.

A number of other memorials have been placed throughout the park, including a large sandstone monument dedicated to James Nash, which occupies a prominent position near the corner of Reef Street and River Road.

Recent signage, bench seating, picnic tables, garbage bins and two children's playgrounds are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.

The avenue running south from the bandstand to the corner of River Road and Young Street contains paired Bumpy Ash (Flindersia schottiana) trees, alternated with various species of palm.

Lining the walkway heading east from the bandstand are paired Jacarandas and other trees including a large Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina).

The timber board-lined ceiling, consisting of four triangular panels joined with cover strips, falls gently towards the centre of the pavilion.

[1] The 1950s fernery building is constructed from orange bricks and consists of an enclosed storage room at the south-east end and a long, open air enclosure used for growing ferns and other plants.

Designed in a classical style, it has a square base, Corinthian-order pilasters at each corner, a wide cornice, and is topped by a sandstone block ornamented with a carved wreath.

A low, semi-circular concrete masonry wall surrounds the boulder and has two brass plaques on its inner face, commemorating the deaths of individual soldiers.

Glimpses of the park in its treed setting can be obtained from a number of surrounding streets to the north and from Calton Hill adjacent to the south-east.

As part of a spontaneous outpouring of national grief at the loss of 60,000 Australians during the Great War of 1914–1918, the Memorial Park contributed to the nation-building of Australia in the early twentieth century and remains important in demonstrating a significant aspect of Queensland's history.

Neither remains as true to Moore's design concept as the Memorial Park at Gympie, which retains early design elements including: the connection between the laneway off Mary Street and the Memorial Park; the arrangement of the main walkways radiating from a central focal point occupied by a decorative timber bandstand; the circular and elliptical raised garden beds; and early tree plantings.

The place has a strong and special association for Gympie and district as the focus for public commemorative events at annual Anzac and Remembrance days.