NZ's first Anzac cross to get historic listing

The Tinui Cross. Photo / Mark Mitchell

One of New Zealand's earliest memorials to Anzac Day could receive the Historic Places Trust's highest recognition.

The Tinui Memorial Cross in the Wairarapa was one of the first places in New Zealand where locals gathered to commemorate the inaugural Anzac Day on April 25, 1916.

The trust proposes that the site is listed as a Category I historic place - Category I status is given to places of "special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value".

The memorial cross is on private farmland overlooking Tinui, about 50km northeast of Masterton.

"The Tinui Anzac Memorial Cross site is a dramatically solemn place. That has been reflected in the community erecting the cross to mark its respect for those involved in the Gallipoli campaign, the determination to continue the tradition when the cross needed replacing nearly 50 years later and the yearly pilgrimage to commemorate each Anzac Day," trust historian Karen Astwood said.

The cross was originally constructed from timber but was replaced with an aluminium equivalent in 1965.

Public submissions on the registration close on February 9.

- NZPA