Park memorial sought for Luke Davies

By Kate Lockyer
To his friends, former Newstead resident Luke Davies was a kind, fun-loving man with a generous personality who made time for everyone.
“He was just super lovely, you could just see by how many people turned up to his (memorial) that he just touched everyone,” his friend Jess Vaux said.
The 29-year-old moved to Sydney from Brisbane at the end of 2023, but he and his partner Jesse Baird were tragically killed in February this year.
A former police officer has been charged with their alleged murder.
In Brisbane, there were two memorials held in New Farm Park for Luke – an impromptu vigil which attracted over 100 people and a later private ceremony for his family and close friends.
His friend Dean Bailey is now advocating to get a memorial plaque installed in the park, with the support of Luke’s mum Sandy.
Brisbane City Council has strict rules around who can be given a memorial in public parks; however, Dean hopes that the extreme circumstances surrounding Luke’s high-profile murder case justify a small memorial plaque.
He has contacted local Councillor Vicki Howard who suggested a plaque in the pride garden, dedicated to Luke and domestic violence victims.
Dean has asked her instead if they would consider a plaque on a bench in the park where people could stop and sit, with wording along the lines of ‘Dedicated to Luke Bryce Davies and others taken from us too soon’. He is currently waiting on a response.
“It’s not just for family and friends – I’ve had people reach out to me that knew I’d known Luke, from overseas and around the country, offering their sympathy,” Dean said.
“So I think it would be good to have a place where people can go, sit there and remember.”
Dean has also contacted Member for McConnel Grace Grace and Member for Brisbane Stephen Bates.
Luke, Dean, Jess and their friends used to live near one another in Newstead and bonded over a shared sense of humour.
They would often visit each other or go down to the park.
“…On a Sunday afternoon, we’d come down to New Farm Park, chuck a blanket down, bring some beers down – sometimes some food and sometimes not,” Dean said.
Luke loved camping and the outdoors, and always surprised his friends with his many different interests, whether it was sport or travel, or something else.
Dean said a moment with Luke he will always remember was having farewell drinks with Jess and some other friends before he moved.
Luke loved to travel and had moved to Sydney to start a new job as an international flight attendant for Qantas, which gave him the opportunity to go to many different countries.
“Everything was as usual, laughing and joking and just talking nonsense. We were all sad to see him leaving Brisbane but also excited for him at the same time, knowing he was going off to start his dream job and begin the next chapter of his life,” Dean said.