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The monument commemorates the triple champion boxer of Australia and middleweight champion of the British Empire, Dave Sands, who was accidentally killed in 1952. 

It was in 1940 that the "Sands` Brothers", six young aboriginal men,  emerged from the bushland of Kempsey on the north coast of New South Wales to try their hand in the world of professional boxing, the toughest of all sports. They were to become known world-wide and famous as "the Fighting Sands" and unique in boxing history, for there had been none before and none since to match their deeds, leaving them acclaimed as arguably Australia`s greatest ever sporting family.

The punching brothers Clem, Ritchie, George, Dave, Alfie and Russell all had the ability and courage above the ordinary, but the star and most gifted of the brothers was Dave, the fourth eldest. His boxing career commenced in Newcastle in 1941 and finished when he was killed at Dungog on 11th August 1952. The truck he was driving failed to negotiate a bend in the road and overturned, ending his life at 26 years of age. In his 100 fight career Dave won 1 State, 3 Australian, 1 Australasian and the British Empire Middleweight Championships, rising to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

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