Queensland had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became some of the most significant monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young Queensland. Over 58,000 Queenslanders served in World War I and over 10,000 of them died. No previous or subsequent war has had such an impact on Queensland. Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word "
cenotaph", commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means "empty tomb". However, as the casualties mounted, grief was no longer limited to the close circles of family and friends but to whole communities, resulting in memorials placed in prominent public places in the town, often as part of larger commemorative schemes, such as memorial parks and memorial halls. Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported. Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair. == See also ==