The Evening Post of 26 November 1918: "A protest against the possibility of a multiplicity of petty war memorials was made in the House of Representatives by Mr. H. G. Ell today".
Billie's book that chronicles her journey across Aotearoa New Zealand capturing the landscape of war memorials cast as obelisks, gateways, arches, memorial halls and panels in schools is proof that the centrists, like Mr Ell, failed to deny the right of small communities to raise their own funds to shape their own grief wrought on them by a globally distant war.
As a 21-year-old overseas student at Victoria in Wellington I had hitch-hiked to Auckland during that first summer break.
I remember being dropped off by a farmer at a small town. Munching on my lunch sitting on a bench by a war memorial, I read the names. A whole family lost.
I experienced what Billie must have at Mapiu Gates in 2012. My epiphany moment when "There is a stillness in the country".
That memorial made a deep intriguing impression on me so much so that whenever I had a chance of visiting places in New Zealand I will seek out these memorials to get a glimpse into the chasm of lives lost through war.
Billie's book is a very useful lesson embedded in proverbs or whakatauki in Maori. "Me huri whakamuri ka titiro whakamua" which means it's only by knowing and understanding the past can we shape the emergence of the future.
Memorials are important watering wells for the spirit and souls of individuals and our communities. A sharing of common memories. They and the ceremonies attached to them are numerous and sacred. Every community needs and should be blessed with such public places in civic spaces.
As a council we talk of growth strategies. We acknowledge the housing crisis and the need for increased social and affordable housing.
Over the last few years, in anticipation of the opening of Transmission Gully, we have been seeing an increasing demand for housing. Housing development has been accelerating and with changes in legislation this will turbocharge further.
But our growth strategy should not just be about houses. Our strategy is called "growing well" which means we grow homes that not only protect our bodies but nourish the spirit and soul. That connects us to our wider communities and, significantly, our natural environment.
In Paraparaumu, destined to be a much bigger urban centre of the district, we are looking at the potential of up to 12-storey buildings within the town centre. There are conversations on redesigning the civil space that include the restoration of the Wharemauku Stream and creating an iconic place that beats as the community's heart. One that functions well beyond a utilitarian shopping mall.
At the Anzac Day ceremony, held at the Paraparaumu Memorial RSA club at Paraparaumu Beach on Monday, I issued a challenge to the RSA to consider and explore the potential of a memorial space in the redesigned Paraparaumu Town Centre. Even a place for themselves.
The RSA used to be the Siamese twin to the Paraparaumu Memorial Arch at the Domain. Since it sold and moved to the beach, the Arch, erected in 1924, and its history sits like an orphan. Ceremoniously visited perhaps twice or three times a year.
