Labor promises memorial for World War II bomb site

A Labor-led government has pledged to construct a war memorial in Oonoonba to better commemorate the site of a fallen World War II bomb if re-elected.

RSL Townsville vice-president Col Mosch, The Oasis Townsville executive leader Angie Barsby and Labor incumbent MP Les Walker discuss an election promise to spend $500,000 on a war memorial in Oonoonba.

A Labor-led government has pledged to construct a war memorial in Oonoonba to better commemorate the site of a fallen World War II bomb if re-elected.

Mundingburra incumbent MP Les Walker said the government would commit up to $500,000 for a “significant monument” near veteran community centre The Oasis to ensure that the stories of the past were remembered by the community.

Such a story included a Japanese bomb that fell in an Oonoonba paddock on July 29, 1942, which merely damaged a palm tree.

And while such a plaque existed it was small and was in an inaccessible place.

“John Caligari (retired lieutenant general) raised the point some time ago about getting something built over this significant bomb site to record the history like Darwin has,” Mr Walker said.

“And so the Premier was very generous in relation to we should be recording more of the history here in Townsville,” Mr Walker said.

Mr Walker suggested the design of the memorial could incorporate a damaged palm tree.

Taken from the Townsville Bulletin newspaper, 3 August 1942 (SLQ)

“I think we could do something nice around that site with a bit of artwork and maybe some audio telling the story with the sound effects of the night of that air raid when the sirens were going off through the site of Oonoonba and Herbert Park.

“I think that’d be nice for our young people to go there and our military and our former defence personnel and families to go there and listen in the darkness of the night, what that would sound like and look and reflect on that crater.”

RSL Townsville vice-president Col Mosch said “we’d be very interested in what the design is and how it’s going to eventuate” but clarified the organisation remained apolitical regardless of political promises.

“We’re here today because it’s a significant military event that occurred in time and the location is fitting for a memorial,” he said.

He said that while locals grew up in the area heard the stories of World War II, they risked being forgotten and overlooked.

“When this event occurred in 1942 there were three separate attempts to bomb Townsville, particularly the port and the airfield as strategic locations that occurred over a series of nights over 1942 and it’s history that’s easily forgotten.

“If we don’t create these memorials and then those messages and occurrences in time will be forgotten and won’t remind us of … how important we were at that period in time.”

Originally published as Labor promises memorial for World War II bomb site