Rededication for old angel

REPAIRED: Kaitaia's historic World War I memorial, looking good with its broken right arm replaced, will be rededicated when its centennial is commemorated next year.

Prime Minister John Key will be invited to attend when a unique war memorial in Kaitaia is rededicated for its centennial on March 24 next year.

The memorial is the angel on a plinth inscribed in English and te reo Maori, embracing the service and sacrifice of 84 Maori and Pakeha soldiers from Mangonui county at Gallipoli in 1915. The memorial statue is now the central feature in Remembrance Park opposite the Far North Returned Services Association clubrooms in Matthews Ave, Kaitaia.

The park commemorates those from the Far North who died serving in South Africa, both World Wars, Malaya-Borneo and Vietnam. It is now lined up for a facelift which will see some of the Far North District Council (FNDC) $150,000 budget for the job spent on colourful mosaic tiles and painted poppies to enhance the special site.

LOOKING BACK: A big crowd gathered when the angel war memorial was dedicated in 1916 on its site by Commerce Street in Kaitaia where the Kauri Arms Tavern now stands.

The angel, classified by the Historic Places Trust in 2012 for its significance as one of the first World War I memorials in New Zealand, was made from Italian marble for a Te Rarawa leader, Riapo Puhipi (Leopold Busby). He wanted to put it by the Kaitaia Post Office, but that wasn't permitted so its first home was in a paddock further north along Commerce St, on the site where the Kauri Arms Tavern now stands, where it was unveiled on March 24, 1916. [See above photograph]

In the 1960s the angel was shifted to be alongside a World War II memorial near the Kaitaia Memorial Swimming Baths, and in 1993 both memorials were relocated to Remembrance Park.

The angel's raised right arm was knocked off in the second move and for many years her marble eyes regarded the stump with apparent unconcern. But the amputation worried local Vietnam war veterans Ray Beatson, Ritchie Taaffe, David Russell and others who formed a Kaitaia memorial restoration group three years ago, raised funds and had the arm replaced about four months ago.

Mr Taaffe said Leopold Busby had paid 78 ($156) for the angel in 1916, but the project to have the new arm made and fitted by internationally recognised local sculptor and carver Paul Marshall had cost $48,000.

The memorial restoration group is now working on the Remembrance Park upgrade with the Te Hiku Community Board, FNDC, RSA, Kaitaia Business Association and other interested parties, providing voluntary community muscle for the planned replacement with lawn of a strip of road on the western side of the memorial.

Puddling around the rear entrance to the park during wet weather was discussed when representatives of these organisations met at Te Ahu in Kaitaia last Friday, with development consultant Andy Cuckney emphasising they had to get the drainage right.

The revamp includes better access for people with disabilities and bollards to stop vehicles driving on the park.

Te Hiku Community Board chairman Lawrie Atkinson said efforts would be made to get the Prime Minister to attend the centennial dedication of the angel memorial, but there was no guarantee he would show up.

A new bronze plaque, adding the names of 35 Mangonui County soldiers left off the original list on the angel's plinth, is planned for inclusion in the memorial.