The Rewan air crash occurred on 16 November 1943 when a Dakota C-47B of the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron of the 374th Troop Carrier Group crashed at Rewan, Queensland, south of Rolleston, Queensland, killing all 19 people on board.
The memorial is made of aircraft’s engines, wings and undercarriage, near the crash site. It was dedicated at a special ceremony on 26 April 2004. A memorial cairn was erected much earlier, by the Roma Boy Scouts Group (Venturers) and Roma and Injune RSL, in October 1979. The Assault Pioneer Platoon 25 Battalion RQR assisted in the recovery of the wreckage and erection of the memorial. The cairn acknowledges all of the personnel killed in the crash, including those from the Royal Australian Air Force, Australian Army, and United States Army Air Corps.
The main feature noticed is of a large section of the plane propped high on posts. The memorial circle with wreckage from the plane and the cairn is to the side of it. There are several parts of the plane, including a wing section and a couple of engines.
There is an information board with details of the Rewan Remount Station, acknowledging the horse stud that supplied police remounts. It was considered valuable and a suitable location for a horse stud, moving from the initial breeding location of Woodford in 1908 on a much larger reserve. A horse bred at Rewan, named Brisbane, was gifted to King George V in 1911. By the 1930s, the stud became less viable with challenges of drought and the increasing prevalence of motor vehicles.
The historical site at Rewan has no facilities, aside from a concrete picnic table and space for parking. It is a worthwhile stop on the way into (or out of) Carnarvon Gorge, which is when we stopped there.