Queenstown war memorial

Queenstown war memorial c1986 (top) and 2014 (other images). The memorial is unusual in that on one side is listed those from the district who were killed in the First World War while the other side has those who returned.

A small plaque also lists those who were killed in the Second World War.

Site	Style	Ornamentation	Unveiling Date	No of Dead
Park/gardens	Arch	Urn	25-Apr-1922	35

Credit

Top image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c1986
Bottom images: Francis Vallance, 2014 and (for information sign image) Jock Phillips, 2009

Find out more about the people listed on this memorial on the Auckland Museum's
Cenotaph website

How to cite this page

Queenstown war memorial, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/queenstown-war-memorial, (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 29-May-2024

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Community contributions

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Angela Posted: 15 Dec 2008

The initial proposal was to build a memorial playground, however some considered this to be an innappropriate memorial. Instead, they agreed on constructing a memorial arch at the entrance to the Queenstown Gardens. The placement was crucial to draw the attention not only of locals, but also of tourists to the sacrifice made by the small, isolated community.
One side of the arch features the name of the fallen soldiers while the other, much to the dismay of a number of returned servicemen, displays the names of all who served. Although many servicemen objected to this, the general community consensus was that the names of all should be included.
Have a 1930s photo of the memorial, if that is of any interest?

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Peter McCrossin Posted: 9 Feb 2013

This is indeed a grievous contribution by Queenstown in terms of the percentage of soldiers lost. I run a reserve servicemen's sub-branch in Richmond, Victoria, Australia.

The best figures I can obtain for the First World War for our municipality are around 5,000 enlistments, with around 1,000 not returning. The overall figure for Australia is around 300,000 enlistments for overseas service, with 60,000 killed (in all wars).

A 20% death rate. A 30% death rate, as indicated by the Queenstown memorial for WW1, is a huge blow to a small community.

Peter McCrossin

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