Residents of Winton met at the Shire Hall on Sunday 16 August 1914 to initiate a patriotic committee and to call on volunteers for the war that had been declared two weeks prior. 10 years later, the office of architects H W Atkinson and A H Conrad was calling for tenders for the erection of a granite war memorial in Winton. By March 1926, local stonemason G H Jenkins had completed the structure in granite sourced from his quarry in Gracemere. Plans were in place to truck the completed memorial to a site in the main street opposite the Council Chambers. The highly polished three metre high pedestal bore the names of 518 men and women who served during WWI. A bronze laurel wreath was fixed at the top of each panel. A poem by Rupert Brooke is featured on one side. The memorial cost £1273. Anzac Day 1926 began with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the town cemetery on the graves of 16 returned servicemen. The unveiling of the memorial in the afternoon was attended by the whole town, the Shire Chairman and local religious leaders officiating. The memorial remains the focus of ANZAC Day ceremonies in Winton.
