In 1919 the Queensland Institute of Architects, on behalf of the Gympie and Widgee District Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Fund, held a design competition for memorial gates in Mary Street. George Rae, a young draftsman in the Brisbane office of Lange Powell, won the competition. The gates cost close to and were completed about August 1920. Plaques on the gateposts recorded the names of 167 local men who died during service in the Great War (1914–1918) and of the two who fell in the Boer War (1899–1902). The memorial gates and laneway are the subject of a separate entry in the Queensland heritage register (Gympie and Widgee War Memorial Gates).