Again, in 1973 when the Mackay City Council was planning its civic centre complex, the cenotaph was moved to the opposite side of the park fronting Albert Street.

[2][1] The pre-Federation defence force drawn from the male citizenry of Mackay and its district formed a company of the famous Kennedy Regiment, which was the first Australian infantry unit mobilised at the outbreak of WWI (1914–1918).

To those who erected them they were sacred; substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East, British policy having decreed that its Empire's war dead were to be buried where they fell.

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] Before the construction of the Mackay cenotaph in 1929, Anzac Day in the city was commemorated by a procession of returned servicemen and the gathering of crowds around a Cross of Sacrifice, a temporary structure usually placed in a central location.

[8] Bounded by Gordon, Nelson, Alfred and Wellington streets, the area occupied by the drill shed and its grounds had always been intended as public open space, labelled a "square" in the first survey of the new township of Alexandra (later Mackay) by Surveyor Thomas Henry Fitzgerald in 1863.

[9] Since the early 1920s the City Council had made several attempts to regain control of the land, bringing the matter before Prime Minister Stanley Bruce during his visits to Mackay in 1924 and 1927.

[12] During a subsequent visit Mr Harvey measured levels at the River Street site before returning to Townsville to finalise details in preparation for calling tenders.

Established in Townsville in the mid-1890s, Melrose and Fenwick grew to become the leading monumental masonry firm in northern Queensland, with branches in major centres such as Cairns and Charters Towers.

As reported in the Mackay Daily Mercury, during the unveiling ceremony the gratitude of the committee was expressed towards the architect, Mr Harvey, who, after supervising the erection of the monument, had forgone his fee.

Thus the sacrifice of the dead heroes was supported by a strong foundation of Christian faith, with the column of strength and right holding up the empire, which was banded together in bonds of unity.

[21][1] In addition to these remarks about the cenotaph's symbolic elements, the three steps may correspond to those found on a Calvary cross used to mark Christian graves, which symbolise faith, hope and love (or charity).

[22] This type of monument-a pedestal and classical column surmounted by a sphere or orb-is one of a wide variety of symbolic forms employed after WWI throughout Queensland.

Many symbols used were already familiar in grave monuments and included urns recalling the ancient Greek practice of placing cremated remains in funerary vessels, and broken columns representing lives cut short.

[1] The Mackay WWI memorial has some unique features, such as a bronze relief sculpture of the side profile of a helmeted head (symbolism unknown, possibly that of the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare, Athena), not known on any other monument in Queensland.

The drill shed ground was identified in the Town Planning Scheme as an ideal site for a neighbourhood playground, due to its central position in a densely occupied residential area.

[29] The band rotunda was officially opened later in the year on 22 December, again by Mayor Moody, who congratulated the city engineer and workmen for the design, solidity and finish of the structure.

[32][1] By 1945 the site of the cenotaph was being threatened by subsidence of the river bank and it was decided to move it to the drill shed grounds on the northern edge of Jubilee Park on axis with the band rotunda.

In order to make way for this building, the WWI memorial had to be relocated for a second time and was moved to the opposite end of Jubilee Park close to Alfred Street, again on axis with the band rotunda.

[1] At approximately nine metres high, the WWI Cenotaph is an imposing feature both within the park and along Albert Street, flanked by two trees, the canopies of which provide shaded gathering areas adjacent to the monument.

The plaque on the southern side, facing Albert Street, displays a bronze relief sculpture of the head of a helmeted soldier above lettering encased within a rectangular border:THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THE MEN OF MACKAY AND DISTRICT WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR.The corner pillars have simply moulded bases and capitals and are slightly tapered.

Constructed from at least four marble sections joined by mortar, it appears additional fixing to the pedestal is provided by bolts passing through the bottom of the base, two on each side.

[1] Jubilee Park's rotunda has an octagonal pyramid roof clad in corrugated metal sheeting, supported on eight round concrete columns with simplified classical detailing at the base and capital.

One, a Ficus nitida on the west side of the park, has a bronze plaque attached to a timber sign, stating that it was planted by Mrs G. Moody, Mayoress of Mackay, to commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on 12 May 1937.

The Cenotaph at Mackay is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a monument erected to commemorate World War I and its impact on the new nation of Australia.

These characteristics include its composition of symbolic elements-such as the three steps to its base, the mausoleum form of its pedestal, white marble Doric column and surmounting globe-the names of fallen soldiers recorded on the plinth, and its location in a public place.

The World War I Cenotaph in Jubilee Park at Mackay is aesthetically significant for the accomplished composition of its design elements: the approach to a mausoleum-like pedestal representing the great loss of life incurred during this conflict and the wide-ranging grief expressed in response to the bodies of the fallen not being returned for local burial, its Latin crosses and three-stepped base recalling Christianity, its Doric column evoking the architecture of classical antiquity, and the surmounting globe of white marble symbolising allegiance to the British Empire and pride in the sacrifices made on its behalf by a new nation.

[1] The aesthetic response evoked by this cenotaph is amplified by the high standard of design and workmanship it displays and the multiple viewpoints from which it can be appreciated both from within the park, as an appropriate setting for commemorative events or quiet contemplation, and from Alfred Street.

The World War I Cenotaph at Mackay has a strong and enduring connection with the district's community as a symbol of the sacrifices made by its volunteer servicemen during this global conflict.

The cenotaph and these memorials, as well as the formal setting provided by Jubilee Park and its arrangement of original structures, tree-lined paths, lawn and garden beds, are a focus for events held to commemorate these significant contributions.