Glory days of those gates

By Jeremy Sollars

This historic photo of Glengallan Homestead shows the entrance gate which today stands in Warwick’s Leslie Park and which has been the source of controversy in recent months.
Having been known as the ‘Leslie Centenary Memorial Gate’ since being shifted to the park in 1940 to commemorate 100 years of settlement of Warwick by the Leslie brothers, the gate has been at the centre of a tug of war between local heritage advocates and the Glengallan Homestead Trust.
The Trust has been seeking to have the gate brought back to the Homestead in time for its 150th anniversary celebrations in September but many in the Warwick community are adamant it should stay where it is.
A local community member applied to the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage earlier this year to have the gate brought under the Leslie Park heritage listing overlay and the department has since recommended to the independent Queensland Heritage Council that the gate be listed and remain in Leslie Park.
The Queensland Heritage Council is expected to make a final decision on the listing this month or in August.
The photo shown here is taken from Nicole Elswyk’s Facebook page ‘Warwick Pictures from the Past’ and we thank Nicole for allowing the Free Times to reproduce it for the interest of readers.