The Tolaga Bay or Uawa County First World War memorial was a brick-and-concrete three-arch gateway built as a formal entranceway to the Tolaga Bay recreation ground. It was unveiled on Anzac Day 1925 (‘Tolaga Bay Memorial Gates’, Poverty Bay Herald, 18/3/1925, p. 7; ‘Tolaga Bay’s Memorial Gates: Official Opening Ceremony’, Poverty Bay Herald, 21/4/1925, p. 5; John Laurie, Tolaga Bay: A History of the Uawa District, Gisborne, 1991, p. 144).
Marble plaques on either side of the main arch listed the names of 22 men from the area who had lost their lives. After the Second World War plaques listing another 44 names of men who had died were added ( ‘Tologa Bay War Memorial’ [public notice], Gisborne Herald, 18/6/1949, p. 2; ‘Tablets Unveiled at Tolaga Bay’, Gisborne Herald, 26/4/1949, p. 4).
On Anzac Day 2015, plaques listing the names of local men and women who had served in the First World War, Second World War, Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam were unveiled.
Main image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c. 1986
Other images and text: Bruce Ringer, 2015