Boer War Veterans Memorial Kiosk and Lissner Park

Boer War Veterans Memorial Kiosk and Lissner Park is a heritage-listed memorial at Bridge Street, Charters Towers City, Charters Towers, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1883 to 1988. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

A Temporary Reserve for Public Recreation of 18 acres (7.3 ha) 3 roods (33,000 sq ft; 3,000 m2) 34 perches (860 m2), bounded by Anne, Deane, Bridge and Church Streets, Charters Towers, was proclaimed on 15 May 1883. In 1888 the reserve was named Lissner Park after Isidor Lissner, a Charters Towers businessman and politician and later a minister in the 1893 Griffith Ministry. Discovered in late 1871, Charters Towers became the richest of the North Queensland mining fields. The field was proclaimed a town in 1877, and by the early 1880s was a prosperous settlement which made a major contribution to the social, political and economic development of North Queensland. The predominant vegetation of the Charters Towers district was Eucalyptus woodland and open Eucalyptus woodland, which was quickly destroyed as timber was felled and used as shoring for the mines, for building purposes, and as fuel for the Cornish boilers. Concern that the environment was being destroyed led to protests about the loss of vegetation from leading citizens, including Anglican Bishop Gilbert White and Isidore Lissner MLA. As a result of the devastation and in keeping with the prevailing belief that the development of gardens improved the moral character and social well being of the community, Lissner encouraged the Charters Towers Municipal Council to request that a reserve be set aside for recreation and botanical purposes. A Temporary Reserve for Public Recreation, proclaimed on 15 May 1885, was placed under "the control of the Municipal Council" and on 17 August 1891 the park became a permanent reserve with the Municipal Council appointed as trustees. The park was named after Isidor Siegfried Lissner who arrived in Charters Towers in 1873 after living for some time on mining fields in southern Australia. During his time in Charters Towers Lissner developed a financial empire based on mining and commercial interests. He took a keen interest in community affairs and pushed for the establishment of sporting facilities and public amenities such as Lissner Park. At the urging of his friend Robert Philp he stood for the seat of Charters Towers in 1883. After his election to the Queensland Legislative Assembly, he became a strong advocate for better community services for the municipality and he won the approval of the community when he opposed the introduction of cheap Asian, Kanaka and German labour into the mining and sugar industries. Lissner was also a supporter of the North Queensland Separation Movement and he became Minister for Mines and Public Works in 1893. Development of the park was funded by government grants of £350 in 1885 and £175 in 1889. Early work included clearing stumps and rubbish, leveling the ground and tree planting. Tenders were called for a gardener in June 1889 after the first plantings died. The new gardener replanted the park with trees supplied by Ben Gulliver of Acacia Vale Nursery in Townsville. While Ben Gulliver was actively involved in supplying plants to several botanical gardens in North Queensland there is no evidence that Lissner Park was developed as a botanical gardens. Some of the Gulliver trees which still survive include tamarinds, figs, various palms and pine trees.

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).