Friday, June 19, 2015

National Timber Workers' Memorial - Wellings Park, Mitchell Street, Eden.

A memorial wall featuring individual brass plaques recording the names of timber workers fatally injured while working in the industry; as well as four bas reliefs depicting timber industry work practices. The memorial incorporates as its centrepiece a life size statue "Hand of Fate" by renowned Australian sculptor Rix Wright. Depicting a timber worker giving assistance to his injured mate, it symbolises the mateship and compassion of the our bush workers.




The pergolas and entrance were constructed from timbers salvaged from both the old Tarraganda Bridge and another in Victoria. Written information about the history of the industry in the Eden district is displayed on bollards, along with a poem by Mrs. Gillian Munday, whose son was fatally injured while working in the bush.




It was following the loss of Geoffrey Munday in a tree-felling accident in 2001 that the memorial project was conceived. After the axemen's association called a public meeting, an Eden community-based steering committee was formed in 2002.

Construction of the National Timber Workers Memorial was supported by the Australian Federal Government as well as by many local businesses and community members, volunteers and the families of those lost. It was officially dedicated on 7 June, 2008. As of 2013, there were 122 plaques representing timber workers from Queensland through to Tasmania.

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