From the report it is understood that the square was set aside for healthy and invigorating recreation, and that the provision of such a reserve would ensure the development of Warwick as a desirable and fashionable resort.

Walter Hill, at the request of the Mayor of Warwick, supplied many trees, which were firstly tended in a nearby garden and then transplanted in the square.

The foundation stone of the War Memorial was laid 7 June 1923 by the then Prime Minister of Australia, Hon Stanley Bruce and unveiled by the Queensland Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, on 5 December 1923 at a ceremony attended by 3000 people.

[1] The Memorial was constructed for £1445 of Helidon sandstone by the well known and highly regarded masonry firm of F Williams and Company of Ipswich.

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.

This section of the memorial features AIF badges, and a marble plaque, which in leaded lettering lists the 122 local soldiers who fell in the First World War.

Resting on this section is the recessed sandstone shaft of the memorial, the entablature of which is supported at each corner on four polished granite columns with Corinthian capitals.

The entablature comprises a simply moulded architrave, a more elaborate cornice with dentils and a recessed frieze on which the dates 1914 - 1918 are carved in relief.

[1] The gates have four rough-cut coursed sandstone pillars, 2.9 metres (9 ft 6 in) high, the outer two of which are surmounted with marble globelike finials.

Marble name plates with leaded lettering give lists of those from the district who fought in the First World War and returned.

[1] The entrance on the corner of Fitzroy and Guy Streets features gates taken from Glengallan Homestead and re-used to celebrate the centenary of the Leslie brothers establishing Canning Downs pastoral run in 1840.

[5] Warwick War Memorial and Gates 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.

It also has special associations with architects Roy and Hugh Campbell, the local designers and F Williams and Company, a prominent Ipswich masonry firm.