Urge Whitsunday Regional Council to allow memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert
The issue
PETITION TO WHITSUNDAY REGIONAL COUNCIL
Let the Community Decide: Support a Permanent Memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert
Purpose of this Petition
This petition calls upon the Whitsunday Regional Council to reconsider its decision to refuse the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert and to recognise the demonstrated community significance of the site by giving the public a meaningful opportunity to have their voices considered before a final decision is made.
Why This Petition Matters
In the small Queensland community of Airlie Beach, tragedy struck when Luke Brian Gilbert was shot dead at just 24 years of age. Luke was more than a name. He was a beloved son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, friend and valued member of the community. His life was taken far too soon, leaving behind a grieving family and a community profoundly affected by his loss.
For Darren and Nicola Gilbert, the grief of losing their son is lifelong. Like countless families who experience sudden and traumatic loss, they seek a peaceful and respectful place where family, friends, local residents and visitors can remember Luke and reflect upon a life that ended far too soon.
However, this request has now been refused twice by the Whitsunday Regional Council under its Memorials in Parks, Gardens, Open Spaces and Road Reserves Policy (COMM_20), on the grounds that the proposal does not demonstrate sufficient "community significance."
We respectfully believe the opposite is true.
Community Significance Is Created by People
The location where Luke lost his life has become far more than the site of a tragic event.
Over the past several years, people have continued to visit the location to lay flowers, leave painted rocks, pause in silence and pay their respects. These acts have occurred naturally, without instruction or organisation, because members of the community have chosen to remember.
The community itself has transformed this place into one of remembrance.
Places become significant because people give them significance.
Across Australia, memorials exist not only because of historical events or prominent individuals, but because communities collectively choose to remember lives that have touched them. Community significance develops through shared experience, collective memory and ongoing acts of remembrance.
Luke's memorial would acknowledge that this place has already become part of the social history of the Whitsundays.
It would provide a peaceful place where family, friends, residents and visitors can reflect, remember, grieve and heal.
Importantly, the proposed memorial is intentionally modest. It consists of a natural rock, commemorative plaque and low-profile mosaic artwork within an existing landscaped garden bed. It has been carefully designed to complement the surrounding environment without affecting public access, pedestrian movement or public safety.
The proposal satisfies the physical design objectives of Council's policy.
The only remaining question is whether the place has community significance.
We believe the strongest evidence comes from the community itself.
The Community Has Spoken
Hundreds of people have publicly expressed their support for a permanent memorial. They include Whitsunday residents, ratepayers, former residents, visitors, parents and Australians from across the country. Their comments demonstrate that this memorial represents far more than one family's grief.
"As a long-term resident here, I would love to see a memorial to this young man at this place where his journey was tragically ended." — Matt Neal.
“As a resident of Airlie beach at the time of this terrible tragedy I feel it's so important that we mark the place where Luke's life was tragically taken with a permanent memorial. It's the very least we owe this family as a community for the horrific tragedy that took place here. Especially with all the injustices that followed. And with or without we will never forget what took place here and where
and by who.” -Stephanie Lyle
“Please Airlie Beach Council remember this memorial is a families remembrance of a life lost. That cross is not political, it is not blaming it is somewhere we can remember a life lost. Please remember also this is a town that boy loved.”-Julie Schure - Jordan
“I totally support this memorial for Luke as it gives family and friends somewhere to pay their respects and remember Luke. I visit my son's memorial tree with a plaque in the ground all the time as do many friends of my son's. I really do hope this memorial gets approved.... please”-Bernadine Wilkinson.
“A memorial is absolutely necessary, a reminder to everyone just how precious life is, and at the least, a gesture towards Luke's family and loved ones that what happened is remembered. He will not fade away, no matter what.”-Danielle Brown.
“It's very important that Luke is remembered, not only for his friends and family but for the community, I fully support the memorial for Luke as a fitting tribute for a beautiful soul that was taken away"-Sue Catherine.
“As a local I'd love to see it as it brings tribute and reflection and a remembrance to always be safe and hold your loved ones close”-Eric Blythe-darge.
“Whitsunday council please step up and lead by example in making sure this memorial is funded and completed to show your representation of community spirit, integrity and let a lasting legacy be an inspiration for all that pass by. Justice for Luke, justice for all.”- Natt Dicko
“I fully support and believe a memorial rock/ plaque (to honour and pay respects to Luke) would be a beautiful tribute to Luke, his Family, Friends and the Broader Community. A calm, peaceful, legacy, reflecting Luke's young life and the things he enjoyed most, would give all people the opportunity to remember, reflect and pause ... to visit, to feel close to Luke, to begin to understand the loss of a young man, out enjoying his life and following his dreams only to have it
taken away from him... it would resemble So Much and to So Many”-Jayne Duncan
“What a truly beautiful garden this will be. It's not something that stands out starkly as a memorial, but something that blends in beautifully & greatly adds to the area. A place everyone can take some calming breaths & be reminded of nature all around us. A place of reflection & memories for others.”-Tanya O'Neill.
“I support the memorial for Luke A special reminder Luke matters It will be a place of healing and rememance For Luke's family and friends”-Dianne Carney.
“I support having a memorable for Luke. This is very tastefully designed and is important to many.”-Carolyn Caz Manwaring.
“I think that is a beautiful proposed memorial for your son. I hope WRC approve it. It doesn't look imposing, I myself and many others I'm sure, will appreciate it's beauty and it's significance”-Aurora Clarke - Risco.
“Luke deserves a memorial, his family needs it, and the community needs to remember that a life was taken right there...-Bronwyn Taylor.
A respectful memorial rock, plaque, and mosaic fish within the existing garden bed teels beautitul, low-impact, and deeply meaningful. It honours Luke's love of fishing, the outdoors, and the #leavearockforluke legacy that has allowed his memory to keep travelling. This is not about creating division. It is about remembrance, healing, and giving family, friends, and the wider community a place to pause, reflect, grieve, and remember that Luke mattered."— Gail Neal.
"A memorial like this is so much more than a marker in a garden bed—it is a place of remembrance, reflection, healing, education and connection." — Charlie Cavell Tanya.
“Luke, his family, friends and the public all deserve a special place to go to and reflect and pray and remember him, be able to talk to him and make his lite matter, Luke matters”— Lynn Botes.
"A life lost deserves to be honoured, respected, commemorated and remembered—not erased as though it had no meaning." — Kellie Baker.
These comments represent only a small sample of the hundreds received in support of the application. Together, they demonstrate that the proposed memorial has already become meaningful to the broader community.
Why This Memorial Matters
Memorials do more than remember the past.
They preserve community memory.
They provide places of healing.
They acknowledge lives that mattered.
They offer comfort to grieving families.
They create spaces where future generations can pause, reflect and understand the events that have shaped their community.
Refusing a place of remembrance does not erase history. It simply removes a place where people can gather peacefully to acknowledge it.
The significance of this location has not been created by Council.
It has been created by the people who continue to return there every year to remember Luke.
If community significance is to mean anything, then the voices of the community must form part of that assessment.
We Respectfully Ask Whitsunday Regional Council To:
• Reconsider the refusal of the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial.
• Recognise that community significance can develop through ongoing public remembrance and collective use of a place.
• Undertake genuine community consultation before making any final decision.
• Consider the voices of residents, visitors, families, community organisations and supporters as evidence of community significance under the Memorials Policy.
By Signing This Petition You Affirm That:
• You support the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert.
• You recognise the location as a place of remembrance for many members of the community.
• You believe the community deserves the opportunity to have its voice heard before Council reaches a final decision.
A community is remembered not only by its buildings, parks and public spaces, but by how it honours the lives that have shaped its collective memory.
Please let the community have a voice.
"If community significance is the question, then the community deserves to be part of the answer."
Add Your Voice to Have Your Say and Support These Grieving Parents.
They lost their eldest son after he was tragically shot in this town (Airlie Beach). Is it really too much to ask that a permanent memorial be erected at the place where he lost his life?
Lukes Life Matters.
Visit The Families Campaign For more Details: https://www.facebook.com/Justiceforlukegilbert
Email: helpluke@protonmail.com
640
The issue
PETITION TO WHITSUNDAY REGIONAL COUNCIL
Let the Community Decide: Support a Permanent Memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert
Purpose of this Petition
This petition calls upon the Whitsunday Regional Council to reconsider its decision to refuse the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert and to recognise the demonstrated community significance of the site by giving the public a meaningful opportunity to have their voices considered before a final decision is made.
Why This Petition Matters
In the small Queensland community of Airlie Beach, tragedy struck when Luke Brian Gilbert was shot dead at just 24 years of age. Luke was more than a name. He was a beloved son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, friend and valued member of the community. His life was taken far too soon, leaving behind a grieving family and a community profoundly affected by his loss.
For Darren and Nicola Gilbert, the grief of losing their son is lifelong. Like countless families who experience sudden and traumatic loss, they seek a peaceful and respectful place where family, friends, local residents and visitors can remember Luke and reflect upon a life that ended far too soon.
However, this request has now been refused twice by the Whitsunday Regional Council under its Memorials in Parks, Gardens, Open Spaces and Road Reserves Policy (COMM_20), on the grounds that the proposal does not demonstrate sufficient "community significance."
We respectfully believe the opposite is true.
Community Significance Is Created by People
The location where Luke lost his life has become far more than the site of a tragic event.
Over the past several years, people have continued to visit the location to lay flowers, leave painted rocks, pause in silence and pay their respects. These acts have occurred naturally, without instruction or organisation, because members of the community have chosen to remember.
The community itself has transformed this place into one of remembrance.
Places become significant because people give them significance.
Across Australia, memorials exist not only because of historical events or prominent individuals, but because communities collectively choose to remember lives that have touched them. Community significance develops through shared experience, collective memory and ongoing acts of remembrance.
Luke's memorial would acknowledge that this place has already become part of the social history of the Whitsundays.
It would provide a peaceful place where family, friends, residents and visitors can reflect, remember, grieve and heal.
Importantly, the proposed memorial is intentionally modest. It consists of a natural rock, commemorative plaque and low-profile mosaic artwork within an existing landscaped garden bed. It has been carefully designed to complement the surrounding environment without affecting public access, pedestrian movement or public safety.
The proposal satisfies the physical design objectives of Council's policy.
The only remaining question is whether the place has community significance.
We believe the strongest evidence comes from the community itself.
The Community Has Spoken
Hundreds of people have publicly expressed their support for a permanent memorial. They include Whitsunday residents, ratepayers, former residents, visitors, parents and Australians from across the country. Their comments demonstrate that this memorial represents far more than one family's grief.
"As a long-term resident here, I would love to see a memorial to this young man at this place where his journey was tragically ended." — Matt Neal.
“As a resident of Airlie beach at the time of this terrible tragedy I feel it's so important that we mark the place where Luke's life was tragically taken with a permanent memorial. It's the very least we owe this family as a community for the horrific tragedy that took place here. Especially with all the injustices that followed. And with or without we will never forget what took place here and where
and by who.” -Stephanie Lyle
“Please Airlie Beach Council remember this memorial is a families remembrance of a life lost. That cross is not political, it is not blaming it is somewhere we can remember a life lost. Please remember also this is a town that boy loved.”-Julie Schure - Jordan
“I totally support this memorial for Luke as it gives family and friends somewhere to pay their respects and remember Luke. I visit my son's memorial tree with a plaque in the ground all the time as do many friends of my son's. I really do hope this memorial gets approved.... please”-Bernadine Wilkinson.
“A memorial is absolutely necessary, a reminder to everyone just how precious life is, and at the least, a gesture towards Luke's family and loved ones that what happened is remembered. He will not fade away, no matter what.”-Danielle Brown.
“It's very important that Luke is remembered, not only for his friends and family but for the community, I fully support the memorial for Luke as a fitting tribute for a beautiful soul that was taken away"-Sue Catherine.
“As a local I'd love to see it as it brings tribute and reflection and a remembrance to always be safe and hold your loved ones close”-Eric Blythe-darge.
“Whitsunday council please step up and lead by example in making sure this memorial is funded and completed to show your representation of community spirit, integrity and let a lasting legacy be an inspiration for all that pass by. Justice for Luke, justice for all.”- Natt Dicko
“I fully support and believe a memorial rock/ plaque (to honour and pay respects to Luke) would be a beautiful tribute to Luke, his Family, Friends and the Broader Community. A calm, peaceful, legacy, reflecting Luke's young life and the things he enjoyed most, would give all people the opportunity to remember, reflect and pause ... to visit, to feel close to Luke, to begin to understand the loss of a young man, out enjoying his life and following his dreams only to have it
taken away from him... it would resemble So Much and to So Many”-Jayne Duncan
“What a truly beautiful garden this will be. It's not something that stands out starkly as a memorial, but something that blends in beautifully & greatly adds to the area. A place everyone can take some calming breaths & be reminded of nature all around us. A place of reflection & memories for others.”-Tanya O'Neill.
“I support the memorial for Luke A special reminder Luke matters It will be a place of healing and rememance For Luke's family and friends”-Dianne Carney.
“I support having a memorable for Luke. This is very tastefully designed and is important to many.”-Carolyn Caz Manwaring.
“I think that is a beautiful proposed memorial for your son. I hope WRC approve it. It doesn't look imposing, I myself and many others I'm sure, will appreciate it's beauty and it's significance”-Aurora Clarke - Risco.
“Luke deserves a memorial, his family needs it, and the community needs to remember that a life was taken right there...-Bronwyn Taylor.
A respectful memorial rock, plaque, and mosaic fish within the existing garden bed teels beautitul, low-impact, and deeply meaningful. It honours Luke's love of fishing, the outdoors, and the #leavearockforluke legacy that has allowed his memory to keep travelling. This is not about creating division. It is about remembrance, healing, and giving family, friends, and the wider community a place to pause, reflect, grieve, and remember that Luke mattered."— Gail Neal.
"A memorial like this is so much more than a marker in a garden bed—it is a place of remembrance, reflection, healing, education and connection." — Charlie Cavell Tanya.
“Luke, his family, friends and the public all deserve a special place to go to and reflect and pray and remember him, be able to talk to him and make his lite matter, Luke matters”— Lynn Botes.
"A life lost deserves to be honoured, respected, commemorated and remembered—not erased as though it had no meaning." — Kellie Baker.
These comments represent only a small sample of the hundreds received in support of the application. Together, they demonstrate that the proposed memorial has already become meaningful to the broader community.
Why This Memorial Matters
Memorials do more than remember the past.
They preserve community memory.
They provide places of healing.
They acknowledge lives that mattered.
They offer comfort to grieving families.
They create spaces where future generations can pause, reflect and understand the events that have shaped their community.
Refusing a place of remembrance does not erase history. It simply removes a place where people can gather peacefully to acknowledge it.
The significance of this location has not been created by Council.
It has been created by the people who continue to return there every year to remember Luke.
If community significance is to mean anything, then the voices of the community must form part of that assessment.
We Respectfully Ask Whitsunday Regional Council To:
• Reconsider the refusal of the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial.
• Recognise that community significance can develop through ongoing public remembrance and collective use of a place.
• Undertake genuine community consultation before making any final decision.
• Consider the voices of residents, visitors, families, community organisations and supporters as evidence of community significance under the Memorials Policy.
By Signing This Petition You Affirm That:
• You support the Gilbert family's application for a permanent memorial for Luke Brian Gilbert.
• You recognise the location as a place of remembrance for many members of the community.
• You believe the community deserves the opportunity to have its voice heard before Council reaches a final decision.
A community is remembered not only by its buildings, parks and public spaces, but by how it honours the lives that have shaped its collective memory.
Please let the community have a voice.
"If community significance is the question, then the community deserves to be part of the answer."
Add Your Voice to Have Your Say and Support These Grieving Parents.
They lost their eldest son after he was tragically shot in this town (Airlie Beach). Is it really too much to ask that a permanent memorial be erected at the place where he lost his life?
Lukes Life Matters.
Visit The Families Campaign For more Details: https://www.facebook.com/Justiceforlukegilbert
Email: helpluke@protonmail.com
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Petition created on 25 July 2026