Mural in Katikati significant for New Zealand

Katikati RSA members, John Dallimore and president Glenn Burt reflect with pride, the mural titled, 'Those Who Served' in Katikati.

On behalf of the Katikati RSA, Major John Dallimore, Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals pays tribute to the mural, Those Who Served painted in 1996 by artist Geoffrey Fuller, as it serves as a lasting memorial not only on Anzac Day, but all year round.

'Those Who Served', the mural on the wall of the Katikati RSA and the reproduction of it now displayed in the War Memorial Hall are a reflective work that has special significance, not just on Anzac Day but throughout the year. We should constantly pause to reflect.

Our mural is highly respected. This was commented on when the exhibition, Those Who Served was mounted by the Western Bay Museum in November 2018. At the exhibition the work of artist, the late Geoffrey Fuller was honoured, along with his draft charcoal sketches of each detailed picture, displayed.

When viewing these a senior retired NZ Army officer expressed that the murals may have been the last memorial erected in New Zealand to the memory of our people who served in the two World Wars.

Therefore, it is with ongoing pride that Katikati RSA salutes the Open-Air Art group and the museum for keeping those memories alive and visible to the public. Such memorials are essential elements of our heritage and culture.

Artist Geoffrey Fuller inspecting the last panel before it is secured to the wall. Photo / Open-Air Art

It is worth reflecting on comments made at the time of the exhibition as they were poignant.

When the people of a democratic and liberal nation look at their armed forces, they are seeing themselves in a mirror. New Zealand has no military class — our wars have been fought by citizen soldiers with a small professional cadre of regulars.

Everyone's uncle, father, grandfather, brother, or cousin was involved.

Post-1945 Compulsory Military Training and later National Service ensured that almost every family had an association with and exposure to the New Zealand military and service to our country. Now that has changed.

The defence services have grown ever more technically capable, but their numbers have shrunk markedly over recent decades; the drill halls have gone from country towns and the naval launches manned by enthusiastic reservists are no longer to be found in our larger harbours.

Where once every family had relatives on a farm somewhere, so too every family had some who were in or had been in the armed forces.

The display of the Katikati murals goes some distance to redressing that family loss, and it keeps our history more closely to the forefront of national pride.

Women in the mural - preparing care parcels to send to soldiers and working the land while men were at war.

Such things as the murals are unique works of art, they are the holdfasts of our national history, heritage, and culture. If we do not protect them and promote them, then perhaps others may not regard them and our stories to be of value and they will be lost.

It would have been better if the world had not had to fight these wars, but it happened, history cannot be denied. New Zealand played an honourable role in both World Wars and we are entitled to mitigate our sorrow with quiet pride at what was achieved.

The murals are our holdfasts, they are the benchmarks of our history that silently record the achievements of our people and upon which we can look with pride and which we must protect for future generations, and against a time when the connections and the personal memories we now enjoy may not be present.

In these murals there is no thought of glorying war, there's no sense of that in the images that are so carefully preserved here. There are no flags flying or bayonets fixed among the patient men waiting on the wharf in Wellington or on the railway platform; these images are entirely commensurate with a feeling of deep and quiet pride in the achievements of our forebears.

Geoffrey Fuller's charcoal sketch of Gallipoli landing at Anzac Cove at the exhibition.

With the commemoration of World War I behind us, we have a resource carefully identified, preserved ready and for the commemoration of the second great conflict of the 20th century.

The mural artist has preserved a unique set of holdfasts to hand on to the next generation and their commemoration of that later war and other conflicts in which New Zealand Defence personnel have served — Anzac Day is the day of the year when we should respect and honour the memories of those who served.