WWI memorial gates given new lease of life

Work is being done to restore the war memorial gates at the Tauranga Domain. Photo / George Novak

The Tauranga and Wharepai Domain World War I Memorial Gates, built by the Tauranga community in 1921, are being given a new lease of life.

The gates, which line the entrance to the Tauranga Domain, needed repairs and conservation work to fix a number of problems including cracks and rust.

Tauranga City Council, with the help of a Lotteries Commission grant of $31,000, has been repairing the site since October.

Project manager Allan Sizemore said the council was trying to return as much as possible of the monument to original in respect for the men the monument honours.

"The original plaster on the gates was delaminating from the structure, there was a bit of rust getting into the metal inside. There was cracking and splitting starting to affect the structure."

As well as restoring the gates themselves, the area surrounding them is also being given a makeover.

New kerbing, new footpaths and new bitumen are being laid in the area. Uplighting will also be installed to highlight the gates and the statue of Canon Jordan.

Some carparks will be removed from the front of the gates to give the monument a bit more exposure, Mr Sizemore said.

Mr Sizemore said the work to restore the gates had been in the pipeline for a number of years but as it was a "big ticket item", expected to cost in excess of $150,000, it had needed to be budgeted for. "It hasn't had much spent on it since it was done in 1921."

Tauranga City Council cultural heritage co-ordinator, Fiona Kean, said the gates were the original memorial to the Tauranga men who went to World War I.

"The gates are really important. They are a constant in the community, they've been there for 100 years and they will be there for another 100 years."

Mrs Kean said the money to pay for the gates was partly funded by the council and the public also raised some money. "The names were gathered by the community. It really is a community memorial."

The Domain was chosen for the location of the memorial because of its importance to the community at the time. "It was there as a constant reminder of the sacrifice these men had made."

There are 90 names on the gates, although Mrs Kean has gathered 110 names of soldiers who were born in or lived in Tauranga in her research.

As the names were supplied by the community, it was possible the men no longer had family in the area when the gates were built.

Mrs Kean said there was controversy before the gates were erected as Colonel Gerard Ward decided the design and form of the memorial and some members of the public felt they had not been consulted.