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.

It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC spirit and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian: loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity.

The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials.

The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials.

[1] The statue at Howard was imported from Italy and is unique in that no concessions have been made to the appearance of an Australian soldier.

It is surrounded by a low green painted fence of cast iron posts with decorative finials joined by circular rails.

At each corner is an engaged column with Doric order capitals and bases and fluting to the lower half.

[1] Howard War Memorial 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.

Demarcation of rank is unique among soldier statues in Queensland and the inclusion of a backpack rare occurring elsewhere only on Bundaberg's war memorial.

The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.