Of those soldiers, 122 did not return.
One touchtable will be based in the public library while the other will be on permanent display at Wairoa Museum.
“Touchtable technology is innovative,” said Salute Wairoa co-editor Liz Greenslade.
“It brings new ways of learning and understanding to Wairoa. It is untrodden, it revolutionises and respects our history.”
She said previous community consultation conducted by the museum revealed a desire for interactive technology to enable Wairoa youth to understand local stories.
“We believe this project goes a long way towards meeting that special request — a simple way to prepare our children for the new digital world we are now living in.
Project delves into family war stories“This remembrance project will engage and inform our community of all ages by delving more deeply into their family war stories, so we can appreciate the sacrifices made for our freedom today.”
Sue Wilson, Salute Wairoa committee member, said the stories, the pictures, the people and the teamwork were all in place.
“We are really grateful to the Salute Wairoa research team who worked hard to bring this to the community.”
The researchers have written 90 in-depth profile features after interviewing many sons and daughters of the soldiers.
Wairoa mayor Craig Little said his grandfather featured on the touchtables as one of the 90 men.
“I can’t wait to see the memorial collection myself, and I know these touchtables will be great assets for our community to use and enjoy.”
There were hundreds of untold wartime stories and many that have long been forgotten.
Salute Wairoa would bring these stories alive and ensure they would remain alive.
Wairoa played a part in World War 1.
“We need to acknowledge that and the impact this had on the district and on local families.”
Wairoa RSA President Selywn Lilley, said Wairoa and the Wairoa RSA had put together a successful collaboration.
“We are delighted with the end product, which benefits our community.”
The Wairoa Community including Wairoa District Council, local Maori incorporations, local businesses, service clubs, veteran families and members of the public contributed $100,000, while Lottery World War One Commemorations Fund, Eastern and Central Community Trust, First Light Foundation, and the Kingdom Foundation contributed another $135,000.
The touchtables have been assembled by Wairoa company, Curve Technology Ltd.
A dedication for the touchtable at the Wairoa War Memorial Hall will be held between 9am and 10am on Saturday, July 21.
A karakia for the Wairoa Museum’s touchtable is planned for 8am on the same day.
Demonstrations will then be held at both venues until 4pm.
Some had strong links to GisborneSalute Wairoa includes profiles of several men with strong links to Gisborne.
One is Akuhata Paku who was the only Wairoa soldier from the 1st Maori Contingent to be killed in action at Gallipoli.
He lived in Gisborne before the war.
Mr Paku, known as August, named Lady Heni Carroll, wife of Sir James Caroll, twice acting Prime Minister of New Zealand, as his next of kin before going to war.
Mr Paku had lived with the distinguished couple while attending Gisborne High School and later when working here as a painter.
He was only in the army for 10 months when he was killed by shrapnel at the age of 22.
His brother Api, known as Sonny, enlisted despite being underage, six months after August’s death. He served on the Western Front and survived the war.
Their grand niece lives in Gisborne today.
Salute Wairoa reveals much information about Henare Wepiha Te Wainohu. His story follows below.
Wairoa’s large marble statue of Padre Henare Wepiha Te Wainohu honours the four years he devoted unstintingly to the welfare of his “boys” in the bloodbaths of Gallipoli and the Western Front.
Mr Te Wainohu came from a farming family at Mohaka and also rose to prominence in Wairoa and Gisborne before making his mark overseas during World War 1.
His father was Wepiha Te Wainohu, his mother, Para (nee Te Aho) and his siblings were his brother Paora and his sister Neti.
Mr Wainohu was a young man with little knowledge of the English language or the world outside his small and remote village when he went to Te Aute College in Hawke’s Bay in 1896.
Although Te Aute was a strongly Christian school, he joined the “Te Kooti gang” whose members endorsed the traditions and teachings of the Hauhau or Pai Marire.
But Mr Te Wainohu later underwent a change of convictions joining the school’s Christian Union.
He also played for the school’s still famous First XV where he was known as “the tiger”.
In 1901 he enrolled at Te Rau Theological College in Gisborne where he learned fluent English and acquired a good universal education.
He also captained Tupuae RFC and played representative rugby for Poverty Bay.
Mr Te Wainohu was ordained as Deacon of the Anglican Church in December 1906 and followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps as a minister of the Maori Church.
He married Erena Rotoatara, of Wairoa, in 1907. They were a very influential and popular couple.
The Maori population in Wairoa were converting to Christianity through his efforts.
When the couple transferred to Mohaka in 1913 about 350 guests attended their farewell.
Erena had only a few years with her husband before he left to serve on battlefields on the other side of the world.
She was not to see him again for four years.
Mr Te Wainohu sailed to the war with the 1st Maori Contingent on Warrimoo on February 14 in 1915.
He served as the padre of New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, later known as Te Hokowhitu a Tu.
The chaplain was perceived by his men as an inspirational officer. He accompanied them in the trenches, where he believed he should be.
He and Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), a doctor and former Young Maori Party MP, at times went into the trenches together with the Turkish lines only 14 metres away.
He acted as a stretcher bearer, carried water to the trenches, and consoled and encouraged wounded or dying men, and encouraged others with sermon, song and haka.
Mr Te Wainohu survived the war and returned home in 1919. But he was only 38 when he died at Mohaka.
Many contemporaries believe the huge personal toll the war had on him led to his premature death.
