The original plan had been to carve and install a replacement arm, and reconstitute the text and lettering on the memorial, which had been damaged beyond economical repair. The type and style of lead lettering used was no longer available, however, and attempts to replicate it could have potentially done more damage. Accordingly the decision was made to replicate the wording on a bronze plaque that would be fixed to the base of the monument.
"We could not have got this far without the dedication of local fundraisers Ritchie Taaffe, Arthur Simeon and David Russell," Mr Beatson said.
"We have also had terrific support from people and businesses in the wider community, Te Hiku Community Board and the Far North District Council. The journey is not yet over though; we've now got to get on with planning for the angel's re-dedication next year."
Mr Russell said fundraising would be on-going.
"Publicity in the Northland Age last year led to the identification of another 35 soldiers from Mangonui who died as a result of their service in World War I, so we are going to have a bronze plaque made recording their names. There is a lot more work to be done on the memorial as well before we can have the bronze plaques fixed to it.
Mr Simeon said the restoration project had created greater public awareness of the memorial and its angel.
"We are now working with the community board, the district council, the RSA and other interested parties on upgrading the whole of Remembrance Park. A green space will be developed in the middle of Kaitaia, and it will be looking good for the memorial's re-dedication in March next year."
The memorial is recognised as being of outstanding national historical and cultural significance. Long considered to be the first erected in New Zealand for World War I, and now believed to be one of the first three, it was the first to be unveiled in New Zealand, and is understood to be the only war memorial in the country that is fully bilingual in Maori and English.
It was relocated in the 1960s from a paddock adjacent to the Kauri Arms Tavern and placed alongside the World War II memorial adjacent to Kaitaia's Memorial Swimming Baths.
Both were subsequently moved to their present prominent position in Remembrance Park, on the corner of Matthews Avenue and Melba Street, and incorporated in one memorial that commemorates those who died during the both world wars, as well as those who died during the South African (Boer) War and in the conflicts of Malaya-Borneo and Vietnam.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust registered the World War I memorial as a Category 1 Historic Place on November 1, 2012.
