Botanic Gardens thrived under WWI Veteran's curatorship

When Pat Andrews was appointed curator of the Townsville Botanical Gardens in 1936, he was following in the footsteps of the two highly accomplished curators that had preceded him.

Percival Pacific (Pat) Andrews, is pictured in the centre of the photo with family members, outside the curator’s cottage in the Townsville Botanical Gardens, North Ward (now known as Queen's Gardens).

Photo: Courtesy of Natalie Embregts.

Mr William Anderson, the first curator at the Botanical Gardens, spent 54 years in the role and was responsible for planning and setting up the gardens in North Ward. He was also instrumental in beautifying Townsville, planting Banyan figs on The Strand at Anzac Park and establishing the garden beds in Flinders Street in the 1920s. Anderson Gardens was later named in his honour.

Upon his retirement in 1930, Mr Anderson was succeeded by Mr George Johnson, who had spent 37 years as curator at Lissner Park, in Charters Towers, before coming to work at the Botanical Gardens in Townsville under Mr Anderson in 1926.

But if Pat Andrews, whose proper name was Percival Pacific Andrews, felt at all daunted by the thought of living up to the reputation of his predecessors, it does not appear to have stopped him from making his own mark on the gardens, where he went on to work for the next 30 years.

Mr Andrews was a decorated veteran of the First World War, having served in Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Belgium. In March 1918, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for gallant conduct and devotion to duty in the field during a period of severe bombing and attack in October 1917.

After the war, Mr Andrews returned to Australia with his English bride Gwendoline, and took up a solider settlement selection at Boulia. Drought during the 1920s forced them off their land, and in 1928 he joined the Townsville City Council as a gardener. He was appointed curator in 1936 after the retirement of George Johnson.

Mr and Mrs Andrews lived on site with their seven children in a five-roomed cottage that had been built in the gardens in 1935.

Curator's cottage, Botanical Gardens, North Ward, 1940.
Photo: Townsville City Libraries.

Only a year after taking over as curator, Mr Andrews introduced roses to the Botanical Gardens on the site of two disused tennis courts adjacent to the curator’s residence. Extensive preparations were made, with 24 garden beds excavated to a depth of 3ft and the soil replaced with black soil, leaf mould and manure. Over 260 plants were put in, covering 20-odd varieties, and trellises were erected to carry the climbing varieties.

View of Castle Hill from the Botanical Gardens, North Ward, no date.
(The rose garden can be seen on the left in this postcard)
Photo: W. J. Laurie, Townsville City Libraries.

In 1940, Mr Andrews came up with the novel idea of adding an apiary to the rapidly expanding park at North Ward. A swarm of bees originally trapped in a fence post in Queen’s Park, adjoining the gardens, had been allowed to develop in a small single-storey hive, which was then added to by a double-decked casing on the bottom. This was then fitted with sliding doors on the ends and sides so that the bees - which were reportedly English and Italian species - could be observed at work through glass walls.

In the late 1940s, Mr Andrews was responsible for the propagation of several hundred Poinciana trees that were destined for an “Avenue of Poincianas” stretching over four miles from Ross River Meatworks to Stuart.

A new overpass at Cluden was recently named in honour of Percival Pacific Andrews, in recognition of his service to Australia as an ANZAC, along with his contribution to the Townsville community as curator of the Botanical Gardens.

The family of Percival Pacific (Pat) Andrews, assembled for the official opening of the rail overpass at Cluden that was named in his honour, 2016.
Photo: Trisha Fielding.

Soldiers' Memorial Gate

The staggering loss of life suffered during World War I, and the national grief that followed it, sparked an ever-increasing trend towards the public memorialisation of our war dead, and the memorials that were erected to honour soldiers who served and died in the Great War became sites of shared mourning.

The opening of the Soldier's Memorial Gate, Townsville West State School, Townsville, December 1921.
Image: State Library of Queensland.

In Townsville, the first public memorial to local soldiers who served in World War I was erected not on public property, but on the grounds of a local State school, in December 1921.

The Soldiers’ Memorial Gate, at the former Townsville West State School on Ingham Road was built to honour the former students of the school who served in the Great War.  Designed by architect Stephen Harvey, and built by Messrs Melrose and Fenwick, the Memorial Gate cost £430 to erect, which was a substantial sum for that time.

Standing at close to five metres tall, the free-standing masonry archway contains marble tablets inside the supports of the gate that are inscribed with the names of 200 former pupils that enlisted for the war.  Of this number, 20 died in the service of their country, 31 were wounded, two were gassed and one was taken a prisoner of war.  On the cornice of the masonry gate, are the words “Their Name Liveth For Ever”, and the dates 1914 and 1919 appear on opposing piers.

The Memorial Gate was officially unveiled in front of a large crowd by the Mayor, Alderman W.H. Green, who, according to the Townsville Daily Bulletin gave an “impressive speech”, in which he attempted, probably unnecessarily, to justify the need for such a memorial.

Alderman Green believed that “from time immemorial it had been a custom amongst all people to set up tokens of remembrance - in the stately monuments, arches, statues of magnificent edifices in order to commemorate and have in remembrance the glorious deeds, remarkable achievements, enduring courage, noble sacrifices and nobility of character of their sons and daughters.”

With regard to this Memorial Gate, Alderman Green said the community was “well proud” of the 200 “brave lads” who had been connected with the school and that he personally felt proud to have been associated with the first committee who put forward the idea for “such a worthy monument, the first public memorial monument erected in Townsville.”

And in a touching tribute to the mothers of the soldiers who had been memorialised, Alderman Green went on to say that they “could not fail to perceive in the memorial a recognition of the sacrifices willingly and ungrudgingly borne by the noble womanhood of this Commonwealth of theirs – sacrifices often times overlooked, frequently unrecognised but none the less magnificent for all that.”

“They did not sorrow without hope, they did not weep with regret and despair, for the sorrow and tears were overwhelmed with the sense of pride and admiration,” he said.

The memorial at the Townsville West State School pre-dated the Soldiers’ Memorial (now more commonly called the Cenotaph) on the Strand by two years, although planning for the Soldiers’ Memorial was underway from as early as 1918.

ANZAC Day ceremony, Townsville West State School, April 1971.
Image: CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

The types of war memorials that have been dedicated in north Queensland since the early 1900s up until the present day are many and varied. They include: memorial gates, arches, fountains, flagpoles, gardens, swimming pools, trees, sports ovals, halls and public buildings.

Tweets by @TrishaFielding