Inside Gympie RSL plans for Memorial Park facelift

Gympie’s century-old Memorial Park is getting a major overhaul, with some iconic features of the historic park to be removed and replaced. One in particular has been there for at least five decades.

Gympie’s century-old Memorial Park is getting a major overhaul as part of a $2 million renovation by the RSL, with some parts of the historic park to be removed for new features.

Gympie’s century-old Memorial Park is getting a major overhaul as part of a $2 million renovation by the RSL, with some iconic features of the historic park to be removed and replaced.

The RSL’s project, funded with government support, is intended to transform not only the park in the city centre, but also upgrade the nearby Memorial Lane and pedestrian crossing connecting the two.

These changes will include removing the memorial flame from the lane, clearing up its entry from Reef St, and upgrading the surface and lighting of the pedestrian crossing.

The flame will be moved to a new memorial in the park itself, near the intersection of Reef and Young Streets.

The RSL has lodged a development application with Gympie Regional Council seeking permission to perform the work on the park, which was donated in 1919 to the Gympie public to use as a memorial reserve.

Gympie’s century-old Memorial Park is getting a major overhaul as part of a $2 million renovation by the RSL, with some parts of the historic park to be replaced.

A Gympie Regional Council report presented in September said the RSL has received heritage exemption certificates from the Environment Department to allow the work to be done.

The renovation would include the removal of the fernery building at the Young St side of the park, at a cost of $100,000 from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.

The report says the fernery building was damaged in the 2022 floods.

It would be replaced with a turf embankment.

The proposed renovation would include removing a fernery, damaged in the 2022 floods, and replacing it with a new embankment.

Councillors were asked to endorse $150,000 support to help with lighting upgrades across the park as part of the RSL’s renovation.

They voted unanimously to support the funding, plus an extra $10,000 to help deliver the project.

The Gympie RSL wants to make changes to the Reef St entrance to Memorial Lane, which extends through to Mary St.

The removal of the fernery from the grounds was also approved by the council.

The RSL’s plans also include a proposal to remove existing buildings at the corner of Jaycee Way and River Rd, to make way for more space to host events.

One of the buildings was home to a temporary tent city in August.

The memorial flame at the Reef St entrance to Memorial Lane is proposed to be relocated to a new memorial inside the park itself, near the Young St end.

The removal of these buildings would be subject to a separate development application to the one for the renovation currently submitted by the RSL.

The council has not yet made a final decision on the RSL’s proposal for the new-look park.

Other buildings on River Rd are proposed to be repurposed in the future as a museum and gallery, and a sub-branch community and information centre.

Originally published as Inside Gympie RSL plans for Memorial Park facelift