Downer builds for Gallipoli memorial

29/03/2018

Duncan Chapman, a Maryborough man, was the first person to step ashore at the battle of Gallipoli.

Now, 103 years later, the cliffs of the historic battlefield are being recreated in steel by Downer’s Maryborough Rail team.

The Downer team is supplying major steel fabrication work for 72 weathered steel columns, nine metres in length, which will represent the cliffs of Gallipoli.

These steel columns will form one part of the “Gallipoli to Armistice” memorial which is being managed by the Queen’s Park Military Trail Project Committee. This $3.2 million project is funded by the Australian Government and will become an iconic attraction of the historic Queensland town.

John Shelford, Operations Manager from Downer’s Rail business, says that Downer is honoured to be able to give back to the community. “We have fourth-generation tradesmen working on site and if we go back to the early days, we know for a fact that some of the employees back then served for us.

“It’s a bit of a payback to the past employees and we saw this as a great opportunity to do that.”

The memorial is expected to open in late July. 

Downer’s history in Maryborough

Downer’s Maryborough Rail facility was built almost 150 years ago and was originally owned by Walkers Limited. Walkers Limited was sold to Evans Deakin Industries (EDI) in 1980, with Downer acquiring EDI in 2001.

Maryborough has a proud military history associated with the town, and Downer also has a strong military history, with subsidiaries such as Walkers Limited and Clyde Engineering being pulled into large-scale military engineering projects.

The Queen’s Park Military Trail Project Committee was originally formed to raise funds for the statue of Duncan Chapman, a Maryborough man who was the first Anzac ashore at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. The statue became the catalyst for the new memorial as well as the Fraser Coast Regional Military Trail.