Religious zealots removed the brass sword from the Cross of Sacrifice at Toowong Cemetery on March 1 last year and tried to beat it into a garden hoe.

The four men claimed Jesus Christ asked Christians to put down their swords but Brisbane’s Chief Magistrate Ray Rinaudo rejected their argument and found them all guilty of wilful damage on July 24.

He imposed suspended jail sentences and fines on the men and ordered they repay the $17,800 in repairs.

The Cross of Sacrifice and the nearby Shrine of Remembrance were erected near the entrance to Toowong Cemetery in 1924 in a parkland known as Canon Garland Place.

War chaplain Canon David Garland, who served as rector at the Holy Trinity Church at Woolloongabba, set up a public memorial service for the Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli.

On January 10, 1916, Canon Garland persuaded authorities to set up the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee to formalise Anzac Day services.

Then, at an Anzac Day service at Toowong Cemetery in 1920, he first called for “a minute's silence” instead of prayers in a move now repeated across the world.

The RSL Queensland’s Toowong branch president Kerry Gallagher AM, who served in Vietnam for a decade, said he “was particularly pleased” the memorial was repaired quickly by Brisbane City Council.

He said the community was very angry at the vandalism where the sword was removed and beaten into a “ploughshare”.

“They were very, very angry that someone had come in, relatively surreptitiously, with no consideration of what this section of the cemetery stands for,” Mr Gallagher said.

“I think ‘anger’ was at the southern side of it; the northern side was a lot worse and doesn’t fit into a piece to into the media,” he said.

Mr Gallagher said one positive from the vandalism was a renewed interest in the role of Brisbane’s Canon Garland as the architect of Anzac Day.

“Clearly he was a major figure in Anzac Day memorial and services in Queensland,” he said.

Mr Gallagher remembers being shamed as a Vietnam War veteran and told not to wear his uniform.

He said the public mood for all servicemen and women has changed.

“I think there is a far more honest approach to the conflicts by our politicians,” he said.

“And from my point of view I would not wish any of today’s servicemen and women to go through what we (Vietnam veterans) went through.”

This year Brisbane City Council will open Toowong Cemetery at night to allow people to walk through the Soldiers Corner, where Canon Garland himself is buried among hundreds of soldiers.

The Toowong Cemetery was the heart of Queensland’s Anzac Day commemorations until 1930 when the Shrine of Remembrance was finished in Anzac Square.

This year it will be lit until 9pm from April 19 to 28.

“Toowong Cemetery is not usually open in the evening,” lord mayor Graham Quirk said.

“But we will be lighting the cemetery each night until it closes at 9pm, allowing residents to learn about the historical significance of the cemetery and its connection to the Anzacs,” he said.

“During this time, visitors will be able to enjoy walking tours which will wind their way through Soldiers Corner, taking in different grave sites and telling the stories of the solders laid to rest.”

There is a concert on April 28 from 4pm and the film War Horse will be screened at 7.30pm on the gardens of Canon Garland Place.

The main Anzac Day services in Toowong will be from dawn at the Toowong Memorial Park in Sylvan Road where the Toowong RSL branch marks its 99th year.

The branch recently added to the Toowong Cenotaph the name of a young soldier who was killed by an artillery shell and difficult to identify.