Pilot Officer Geoffrey Lloyd Wells Memorial Seat
 Place ID    600338
 Status    Permanent Entry
 Address    103 Stanley Terrace
 Corner of    Mossman Street
 Town/Suburb    TARINGA
 LGA    BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL
 Theme    Remembering the fallen
 Theme    Dying

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Significance
The Pilot Officer Geoffrey Lloyd Wells Memorial Seat at Toowong is a rare private memorial erected for public benefit. It makes an original and attractive contribution to the streetscape, and is significant as an unusual form of war memorial. It is illustrative of the sustained tradition of memorialising the war dead, which had been established in Queensland at the turn of the 20th century with the South African War of 1899-1902, and popularised during and immediately following the First World War [1914-18].

History
This stone seat, which is set into a stone fence along Stanley Terrace, is a memorial to Pilot Officer Geoffrey Lloyd Wells who was shot down over Holland on 17 August 1941, during active service with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. The seat was erected by his family in the corner of their property, as a memorial and for public use.

Description
The seat is of rustic design, constructed of slabs of Brisbane tuff. It is set into the front garden wall, also of tuff, fronting Stanley Terrace. The back of the seat is butterfly-shaped and has a centrally placed metal plaque. In addition to the details of Wells’ death, the plaque bears the quote from Winston Churchill never has so much been owed by so many to so few. Timber slats forming the seat have been reconstructed. The style of the fence above the surrounding wall has changed since the seat’s construction. However, together with the adjacent shady jacaranda tree, the fence and seat combine to create a picturesque resting spot for passing pedestrians.

Information about places in the Queensland Heritage Register is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. Information available here is only part of the full Register entry and should not be taken as an official entry. Absence does not mean a particular place is not in the Register.

Date: 22nd May 2002

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