Cardwell’s current museum building, in which the town’s World War One honour roll still stands, was around 25 years old at the time local men and women left the district to serve in the Great War in Europe.
The heritage-listed museum of today was then the administration headquarters in the Cardwell Shire and the Shire Hall, the venue in which formal ceremonies and social activities, both celebratory and solemn, were held.
The call to fight in Europe in 1915 and during the following three years, was answered by 28 men and women, which represented seven percent of the local population of around 400. If a similar proportion were to respond today, the young men and women departing for foreign battlefields would be well in excess of 700.
To honour those from Cardwell and district who served in that war, an interactive honour roll was unveiled in the Museum on Anzac Eve 2015.
People now visiting the Cardwell museum can not only inspect the marble honour roll where it was erected in 1922 but also read the stories of each of those 28 service men and women simply by touching their names on the interactive computer screen.
At the 2015 unveiling ceremony, a book titled Streets by the Sea – a Cardwell chronicle, authored by Helen Pedley whose research included the stories of each of the service men and women, was also launched, and can be purchased via our website.
