Land Wars medal among RSA taonga

RSA museum curator Alan Bines with some of the military plaques to be sold. Photo/Stephen Parker

The oldest military memorabilia item bought by the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust dates back to the Land Wars.

Rotorua Museum director Stewart Burns has revealed to the Rotorua Daily Post that one of the items bought from the Rotorua RSA was a Land Wars medal from a Te Arawa soldier, dating from around 1860 to 1870. The museum is looking after the items bought by the trust and restoring some of them.

Among the more unusual items Mr Brown said there was a rare Long Range Desert Corp badge believed to be connected to a soldier from Rotorua. However, further research was required to confirm that.

The museum was helped by staff from the Waiouru Army Museum. "They provided military collection expertise to help with assessing objects that may be of national or Rotorua significance, and they are continuing to work with us.

"This has been quite an emotional experience for both the RSA and for our museum team, especially with the sensitive issue of deciding which are the most important objects to keep. It is also quite emotional for everyone to see the RSA building decommissioned after such a long and proud history."

The museum reported sorting the RSA items was using all its resources and due to the enormity of the job it had meant reshuffling timeframes for some of the museum's other activities, including handling requests for information from the public. "The first stage of the initial assessment, packing and temporary storage has been managed from within our existing resources.

"However, the next phase of research, identifying where items have come from, conservation and long-term storage will require additional resources. The museum is currently in discussions with the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust about possible assistance for this next phase of the project."

The items will be held by the Rotorua Museum but if the Rotorua RSA re-opened in new premises it would be able to lease out items.