New Lynn Gateway of Remembrance

New Lynn Gateway of Remembrance

The New Lynn First World War memorial was not erected until some years after the war. It took the form of a substantial brick ‘Gateway of Remembrance’ on the corner of Matai Street and Margan Avenue outside St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Hall, New Lynn. It was formally dedicated on 5 November 1933. Marble tablets at either side of the gateway listed the names of 94 men from the district who had served during the war, 19 of whom had been killed in action.

The memorial was the work of the Reverend W.P. Rankin, the minister of St Andrew’s, who had conceived the idea, raised the funds, and even laid the bricks with his own hands (he had also built the church hall in 1929). Matai Street was later renamed Rankin Avenue in his memory.

The memorial has long since been demolished. The date of demolition has not been recorded, and it is not known what happened to the memorial tablets. The old church building is still standing on its original site today, although it is unused and has a dangerous-looking bulge in its eastern wall.

Sources:  ‘New Lynn Memorial: Gateway of RemembranceNZ Herald, 9/8/1933, p. 11; ‘New Lynn Memorial’, Auckland Star, 30/10/1933, p. 8; ‘New Lynn Memorial’, NZ Herald, 2/11/1933, p. 10; ‘New Lynn Memorial Gateway’ [photograph], ibid., p. 6; ‘War Memorial Gateway at New Lynn’, NZ Herald, 6/11/1933, p. 10; ‘War Memorial at New Lynn’ [photograph], ibid., p. 6; ‘War Memorial: New Lynn Gateway: Official Dedication’, Auckland Star, 6/11/1933, p. 10; ‘Unveiling Reveals More than Plaque’, Western Leader, 3/6/2013, p. 3. 

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