Urinal wall captures piece of WWII history

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Peter Ashley Rasey

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Access to view the wall, can be arranged by booking a City Hall Tour

Brisbane Times article by Katherine Feeney 19/04/2013

A small section of a wall above an old Brisbane urinal is the unlikely subject of a new book and a key to the city's World War II history.

But the recent addition to the heritage register was nearly lost forever during the $215 million renovation of City Hall.

Buried in a basement, in the back hallways beyond rooms formerly occupied by the Red Cross during the war, the strip of plasterboard was covered in pencil scratches.

Appearing tatty and unimportant, it was largely dismissed as nothing more than a messy reminder of people's tendency to vandalise objects after a workman spotted it in October 2008.

The scribbles that are the signatures and numbers of more than 150 World War II veterans on the Soldiers' Signatures Wall at Brisbane City Hall.

The scribbles that are the signatures and numbers of more than 150 World War II veterans on the Soldiers' Signatures Wall at Brisbane City Hall.Credit:Katherine Feeney

However, when former City Hall tour guide and historian Lyris Mitchell clapped eyes on

it, she had an inkling it had a bigger story to tell.

She was right; the scribbles were the signatures and numbers of more than 150 World War II veterans.

They would leave their mark while relieving themselves at the urinal which used to sit underneath the wall, as Ms Mitchell explains in a book she wrote about the artefact and was launched by Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk on Friday.

“Lyris Mitchell was working as a tour guide at City Hall, when she saw the Soldiers' Signature Wall and was immediately aware of its potential,” Cr Quirk said.

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