Statue stored as part of memorial revamp

A 250kg Italian marble statue atop Whangarei's war memorial was gently removed and lowered on to the back of a truck as part of a relocation project yesterday.

A crowd watched nervously as the large figure of a woman was craned carefully off the plinth and transported to storage.

Archie Dixon, chairman of the Whangarei RSA trust, said the cenotaph would go into storage before being relocated as the focal point of the new war memorial in Laurie Hall Park.

"Today is a day of importance in the scheme of things in that we have had a ceremony of deconsecration of this memorial so that it can go into storage for refurbishment which will include restoration work including repairs as well as maintenance."

The maintenance will include the relettering of all of the names in gold leaf.

The Italian Carrara marble figure portrays a woman, with her head lowered, left hand holding a wreath and right hand pointing at the sky.

"The figure holding a wreath and pointing skyward is present in other New Zealand memorials.

"The wreath is a symbol of death or a laurel wreath symbolises victory. The finger pointing skyward is a gesture to the heavens," said Mr Dixon. Mr Dixon said the new WWI memorial would include more than 400 names that were not previously included.

About 100 names would be added due to a change of district boundaries from the old Whangarei Borough Council and extended to include what was the Whangarei County Council, now known as the Whangarei District Council.

More than 300 new names would be added to cover the periods of WWII and the Japan force, Korean force, Malaya force, Borneo force and, in more recent times, Afghanistan.

Mr Dixon said the inclusion of the new names was extremely important.

"Families and extended families of those war dead have waited, in many instances, more than 70 years for community recognition of the loss of the loved ones. So this and the new memorial honours our war dead, honours families of those who lost a loved one and it honours the war veterans who made it back."

The war memorial currently has the names of 166 Whangarei borough soldiers who died in WWI. Mr Dixon said the memorial was first unveiled on February 24, 1923, and was a significant day for Whangarei.

"All businesses closed for the day. What was regarded as a huge crowd of 3000 people attended the ceremony. The memorial was unveiled by Major General Sir EWC Chaytor and the ceremony was addressed by Mayor DA McLean."

The cenotaph is expected to be placed at its new location before Anzac Day next year.