The township of Colinton was built around the Standard Dairy Milk factory that served dairy farms selected from the original Colinton Station in 1904. The region had a railway siding, State school, Post Office and School of Arts by the declaration of war in 1914. Many country volunteers enlisted from this region and when the eldest son of the local councillor died of wounds received near Pozières in 1916, the community erected a public memorial to all those who had volunteered to serve. It included forty-three names of factory hands, agricultural workers and tradesmen. At least thirty-two of these soldiers returned to Australia after the conflict but only thirteen came back to Colinton.

In 1920 Nestles bought the Colinton Milk factory and closed it so the township began to die. There were no buildings left there after the 1974 floods and the then Esk Shire Council removed the Colinton War Memorial from its original position beside the old School of Arts to its current one beside the D’Aguilar highway. There had not been an Anzac service at the memorial for many years before this publication and most of the old Colinton families have now left the district.