S. W. B. HardcastlePrint Page

The memorial arch and park commemorate S. W. B. Hardcastle, a well known Hawthorne resident, who was a former head teacher of the Valley State School.  A drinking fountain was unveiled in the park in his memory by the Hawthorne Progress Association on the 15th June 1929. 

In 1939 the area around the Hawthorne ferry terminal was generally known as Hawthorne Ferry Park, but the local residents applied to the Brisbane City Council to have it named in memory of S. W. B. Hardcastle, a well-known and highly regarded Hawthorne resident who had lived near the park. It was suggested that if Council supplied the stone, the residents would pay for a memorial in the form of an entrance arch. An area of over an acre was converted from freehold land for this purpose and a stone and metal arch bearing the name of the park was erected at its entrance.

To perpetuate the memory of Mr. W. B. Hardcastle, late president of the Hawthorne Progress Association, a drinking fountain was unveiled by the Mayor of Brisbane (Alderman W. A. Jolly, C.M.G.) in Hawthorne. Park on Saturday afternoon. The fountain bears the simple inscription, "Erected by the Hawthorne Progress Associaton to the memory of W.B. Hardcastle for services rendered." Mr. Hardcastle was a resident of the district for 21 years, and as a member of the old Balmoral Shire Council he worked untiringly for the improvement of the locality. It was mainly through his efforts that the present Hawthorne Park site had been reserved and the Hawthorne State school erected. Mr. M. Kelly (president of the Hawthorne Progress Association) paid a tribute to the wonderful spirit of the late Mr. Hardcastle. "He was impervious to disappointment," said Mr. Kelly. "Nothing daunted him. He never grumbled, although the rebuffs he received in his efforts to advance this district would have crushed the spirit of a lesser man. A fountain is the most appropriate memorial that could be erected to a man whose life was dedicated to the service of his fellows, both as a councillor and as a a school teacher.
Excerpt from Telegraph (Brisbane), 17 June 1929.

To avoid confusion of names, Hawthorne Ferry Park will be known in future as Hardcastle Park. It has been named after Mr. S. W. B. Hardcastle, a former head teacher of the Valley State School, who lived in Virginia Avenue, Hawthorne. Two pillars connected by a bronze arch will probably be provided at the entrance to the park. 
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld), 14 February 1939.

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