Soldier Settlement MemorialPrint Page

The monument commemorates soldier settlers of the Granite Belt and their families who built a sustainable fruit and vegetable industry in the district under harsh conditions. The opening of the Soldier Settler Monument, Stanthorpe, in Queensland will be held on 11th November, 2019 to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the returned men from World War One. 

The monument project was launched on the 10th November 2017. Cottonvale was the beginning of the branch line constructed by the railways specifically for these men to market their produce in Brisbane or Sydney.  The site has been donated as a memorial park by an Australian whose parents were migrants.  He and his parents/family were grateful to be accepted by the local community – and have made a success of their farming and business. 

The monument depicts a soldier settler, his wife, horse, plough (all in bronze) plus tools, surrounded by logs, granite, and stark high trees - the main figures in bronze, on a plinth higher than the surrounding parkland. The soldier settler will be larger than the other figures. This serves two purposes: the first is to act as a reminder that the man was a volunteer who had served his country, and was responsible for the welfare of his whole family; the second more important reason is that this was the largest number of returned men to be settled in any Queensland Scheme. It had the harshest weather and financial conditions. The schemes were designed to resettle returned men who were all volunteers, and many of them ANZACS.

Note: In an article published in Stanthorpe Today on the 22 July 2021, The Stanthorpe & District Historical Society published an article to refute rumours about the memorial. The Society stated that they had received a solicitor`s letter acting for Sam Giacca demanding that the monument be removed by them or it would be done by others. Either way the monument has been demolished . Monument Australia does not know if the memorial has been relocated. 

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