Extensive restorations to Brisbane's Anzac Square will be complete in time for Anzac Day, after an initial deadline was missed in November last year, forcing Remembrance Day ceremonies to be altered.
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A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman confirmed the nearly $22 million upgrades to the memorial park will be completed in weeks, ahead of Anzac Day on April 25.
Parts of the park are still closed off to the city and contractors remain on site with machinery and fences around the bottom half of the park at Adelaide Street.
The spokeswoman said the remaining closures were to finish the installation of a lift and staircase, expected to be completed next week.
"Brisbane’s upgraded war memorial will be on a scale similar to Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Sydney’s Hyde Park Anzac Memorial," she said.
"With the multi-million refurbishment of Brisbane’s ANZAC Square just weeks away from completion, the significantly upgraded and enhanced crypt and memorial galleries will also re-open to the public."
Anzac Day, on April 25, will fall on a Thursday this year and in Brisbane will be commemorated with the annual march.
This year, the march will be led by the Royal Australian Navy and will recognise the contribution of women in war.
The fourth stage of the Anzac Square joint state government and council restoration project began in June 2018 and was originally due to be completed before November, in time for Remembrance Day on November 11.
However, poor weather delayed the upgrades, keeping the park closed over the ceremonial day.
Parts of the park and its pedestrian tunnel were reopened to the public in December 2018.
In early January council apologised for the delays, saying the final landscaping works of the $21.98 million upgrade would be completed by the end of the month.
"As part of the fourth and final stage of the almost $22 million project, the fit-out and curatorial component of the memorial plaques in the under croft spaces received an almost $2 million upgrade," the council spokeswoman said.
"The space, which will be curated by the State Library of Queensland, will provide an ideal location for future commemorative exhibitions and events.
"These significant upgrades were delivered by the same company responsible for the Sydney and Melbourne memorials, and Brisbane now has an equally fantastic display and memorial to the Queenslanders who served our country."
The state library is preparing staff training for the impending opening of the Memorial Crypt and Shrine of Memories.
The years-long project to restore the park includes the removal of aged and diseased trees, replanting mature pines, and multiple upgrades to create a safer and fully restored public space.
The park was first opened in the 1930s on the back of public donations and was originally a memorial for World War I. It now serves as a memorial for all conflicts that Australians have served in.
In 1920, the original plan for the commemorative park was to use the entire city block within Ann, Edward, Adelaide and Creek streets.
That plan was gradually downsized before the state and federal governments granted the lands for the square, turning it into the park in the centre of the city today.
