Kaitaia War Memorial Restoration Group member Richie Taaffe and the plaque (below) that the Kaitaia RSA and district council don't want. Photo / Peter Jackson
Kaitaia War Memorial Restoration Group member Richie Taaffe and the plaque (below) that the Kaitaia RSA and district council don't want. Photo / Peter Jackson
Someone -- who does not wish to be identified -- was so impressed with the restoration of Kaitaia's unique war memorial that they have donated a bronze plaque paying tribute to those who led the campaign.
But the Far North (Kaitaia) RSA has declined to approve its being attached to the memorial.
President Wynn Wells said it was the Far North District Council, which owned the memorial, that had made that decision. Even if the council changed its mind, however, the RSA would not agree.
"It's a memorial to the dead, not to the living," he said.
Restoration group member Phil Cross, who is named on the plaque, and who died last month, had been adamant that it should not be attached to the front of the memorial where Mr Taaffe wanted it to go, Mr Wells said.
"He told me he would have his name taken off it if it went anywhere near the front," he added.
Te Hiku Community Board declined a request from the restoration group to have the plaque installed at ground level at the rear of the memorial on February 3, on the recommendation of Jacqui Robson, the council's general manager infrastructure and asset management, on the grounds that a plaque, installed when the memorial was re-dedicated, already acknowledged the contributions made by many groups.
That has incensed Vietnam veteran and restoration group member Richie Taaffe.
"If it wasn't for us Kaitaia would still have the untidiest war memorial in New Zealand," he said.
Kaitaia War Memorial Restoration Group plaque that the Kaitaia RSA and district council don't want. Photo / Peter Jackson
"This plaque has been given to us on condition that we don't say who donated it, but I can say it is someone who is grateful for what has been done."
The restoration included the addition of several dozen names that were not on the original roll of honour when the memorial was unveiled in 1916, and the replacement, with matching Italian marble, of the arm that was lost by the angel long ago in circumstances that no one now can remember, by sculptor Paul Marshall.
The memorial, historically remarkable for its vintage and the fact that it is bi-lingual, was re-dedicated on March 23 last year by Cabinet Minister Louise Upston, one day short of the centenary of its original unveiling .
But the project has not yet been completed. Restoration group convenor and Vietnam veteran Ray Beatson said earlier this year that a lot of information had been gathered in the process of fundraising over the previous four years for the memorial's refurbishment and re-dedication. The group believed that that history was extremely important, and that if nothing was done to capture it in a meaningful way it would be lost, possibly forever.
With the support of Te Ahu Heritage Museum Trust, it was decided that a book should be commissioned.
Mr Beatson said the book, to be written by local historian and author Kaye Dragicevich, would include the story of the memorial, and comment on the relationship between Maori, Pakeha and others in the community. It would be of significant historical, cultural and heritage value, locally and nationally.
It was envisaged that the book would provide a record of the communities in the Mangonui County -- Awanui, Fairburn, Herekino-Whangape, Houhora-Waiharara, Kaingaroa, Kaitaia, Mangonui, Peria, Pukepoto, Pukepoto-Ahipara, Takahue, Te Kao and Victoria Valley -- over the period leading up to and including 1914-1918, along with contemporary information.
It was planned to publish before November 11 next year, the centenary of the armistice that brought World War I to an end.
