Heritage Treasures of the Toowoomba Region 2013 6791801HeritageTreasuresOfTheToowoombaRegion2013 | Page 28

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Victor Denton Memorial, Nobby
Australia suffered high casualties in WWI and many small
rural communities moved quickly to honour their local dead. In
late 1915 the Nobby residents erected, in the local cemetery,
a simple concrete structure with a broken column in memory
of Victor Denton. It is believed to be the first such memorial in
Queensland and is further distinctive for commemorating one
man only. Private Victor Denton, aged 20, enlisted on 4 October
1914 and embarked on 20 December 1914 for Gallipoli
where he was killed on 31 May 1915. He is buried in Beach
Cemetery, Gallipoli.
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Pilton Soldiers’ Memorial Hall
This hall was built, using locally-raised funds, in 1920 as
a community memorial to the service personnel of the Pilton
district and is believed to be the first memorial hall in Australia.
It has become the centre of the community’s social life,
hosting church services, balls, weddings and a variety of
fundraising activities. It typifies the role of community halls
in rural districts.
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Antique Flask, Pittsworth
A few Downsmen served in multiple conflicts. One was John
Joseph Dopson of Pittsworth (born 1881) who fought in the
Boer War (1901-1902) with the NSW Imperial Bushmen and
the Commonwealth Horse, in WWI with the 2nd Light Horse
Brigade and Imperial Camel Corps (September 1915-July
1919), and in WWII as a trainer of troops at Townsville from June
1940 to February 1943. The Kahler family of Pittsworth holds a
flask, manufactured by James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield, which
records his Boer War service.
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Air Vice-Marshall D C T Bennett Memorial,
Toowoomba Airport
Donald Bennett was a significant aviator and navigator. He
established a trans-Atlantic record in 1938 and was the first to
fly non-stop from Scotland to South Africa and from Britain to
Canada. In WWII he commanded the famous Pathfinder Force
that guided RAF bombers to their German targets. After the war
he developed his own sports car named the ‘Fairthorpe’ after
his Toowoomba family home. In September 1987 a plaque at
Toowoomba’s airport was unveiled in his honour.
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