General News
24 April, 2026
Memorial marks 100 years
Anzac Day 1926, 100 years ago, was the date scheduled for the unveiling of Maryborough’s “Digger” memorial in front of the Post Office, in what is now McLandress Square. Unfortunately, the sculptor Margaret Baskerville had not allowed the Melbourne foundry sufficient time to cast the bronze statue, and the opening was delayed until October.
A huge ‘back to’ event, titled the “Great Homecoming” had been planned for April to coincide with the unveiling. Hundreds of former Maryborough residents were expected to return to their home town by the special train from Melbourne that had been organised. Disappointed participants had to make do with attending the Timor memorial ceremony.
Planning for Maryborough’s memorial lagged behind some of the smaller surrounding towns, and was complicated by misunderstandings over the names that were to be recorded on the memorial.
Two groups of women — the Red Cross and the Women’s Patriotic League — had generously supported soldiers during the war and had begun raising funds to construct a memorial. They had initially agreed to combine their efforts, but could not agree on the issue of names. Would the memorial record only those who had died or everyone who had served?
Led by highly respected local citizens Christina Frost and Sevilla White, the Women’s Patriotic League raised funds to commission a bronze statue on a base that would record only the fallen.
The league also determined the work was to be carried out by a female artist, and recruited Melbourne sculptor Margaret Baskerville without consulting the community. This caused outrage in some quarters.
Red Cross secretary Gertrude Herring, an equally prominent citizen, pressed for a memorial recording all those who served, and the society joined with the mayor and a community subcommittee to raise funds for the Harcourt granite gate pillars that now mark the entrance to Princes Park. The names of 493 servicemen and five nursing sisters are recorded.
On Sunday, October 24 the Maryborough Soldiers’ Memorial was finally officially unveiled by Mrs Eliza Wigger (née Branton), who had lost three sons to the war. The ceremony included addresses by local dignitaries and politicians and prayers and hymns.
The names of the fallen were read by the Reverend Erskine, and an oration was given by Senator H.E. (Pompey) Elliott, the much decorated Brigadier-General who had commanded Australian troops at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
Margaret Frances Ellen Baskerville (1861-1930) was born in Melbourne but spent her childhood in Ballarat, attending Miss Quinlan's School for Ladies. She studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, painting in watercolours and oils, but with the ambition of becoming a sculptor. She worked for the Education Department as a drawing teacher while saving to travel to London for further study at the Royal College of Art.
Her first public commission when she returned to Australia, a statue of politician and businessman Sir Thomas Bent, established her reputation. It was unveiled in Brighton in 1913.
Further commissions followed, including a war memorial for Alexandra (1924), the Maryborough statue, and a bust of the WWI English nurse Edith Cavell, unveiled in the King’s Domain Melbourne in 1926.
In later years she and her husband, the sculptor and painter Douglas Richardson, established a studio in Brighton, where they worked on both individual and shared projects.
Until her death in 1930, she continued to produce public and privately commissioned sculptures and paintings and played an active role in artists’ societies.