Charters Towers War Cemetery

Charters Towers Cemetery

Cemetery
North-West

Gregory Development Road, Charters Towers 4820

Situated within the Charters Towers Cemetery on Dalrymple Road, the war cemetery contains the graves of 16 soldiers and 17 airmen of the Australian Forces. Four soldiers are alsoburied in the civil cemetery. Their death were the result of wounds and accidents.

History

During WW2 the area around Charters Towers accommodated a number of Army and RAAF units. Army troops were trained at Sellheim, including the 11th Infantry Brigade. After the Japanese entered the war in 1941, Sellheim became a Reinforcement Depot and troops from the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra, in south-east Queensland were staged through to the Atherton Tablelands and New Guinea. It was also the site for a Supply Depot and Ammunitions Company and Army Workshop. The 116 Australian General Hospital was in Charters Towers, with a Convalescent Depot at Sellheim.

At Macrossan, a United States Air Force School trained RAAF crews on Liberator bombers. The RAAF operated a base at Bedden from 1943–1947 after the US 38th Bombardment Group moved north.

Source/comments

Australian War Graves Photographic Archive

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Department of Veteran’s Affairs