Papakaio war memorial

Papakaio war memorial c1986.

Additional images (2010)

The memorial was built by Crombie monumental masons, a company that still operates in Oamaru. They have been the constructors of a number of North Otago's war memorials.

It comprises an octagonal column of white (Carrara) marble with a fleur-de-lise finial, on a square marble base with relief decoration on the corners, olive branches in the inscription panels and a shield bearing an interpretation of the New Zealand flag, surrounded by oak leaves and acorns, the whole resting on a stepped concrete base with Moeraki gravels plaster, on three steps. All together quite elaborate.

A number of South Island war memorials have been created using "stock" granite cenotaph forms - which are also often utilised for private memorials in cemeteries, whereas the Papakaio war memorial has clearly been purpose made.

Lead filled inscriptions record the names of ten First World War and two Second World War service persons who gave their lives in these two conflicts.