Waihi memorial hall

A comment for Mary CARMINE. I have just had close-up photos of the two memorial tablets returned to me from Paul NIELSON at the District Council, who kindly took them for the Ministry. These tablets show very clearly the, things you have commented on and they make an important contribution to the veracity of the web-page and web site.

Thanks very much for putting us right on this, Mary - I've fixed the page now. Jamie Mackay

The heading Waihi war memorial hall is incorrect. You will note on the photo of the hall itself the title is 'Waihi Memorial Hall'. There is a very good reason for this. This hall was built on the site of the former Miners' Union Hall, which belonged to the Miners' Union and was the place where the miners barricaded themselves against the police during riots in the 1912 strike. On this occasion, a policeman was shot (but survived) and a miner was batonned to death. When the mine closed in 1952 the Miners' Union gifted the hall and land to the Waihi Borough to build a new hall in memory of miners who died in the mines and in the strike. It was also to be a Memorial to fallen servicemen but because of the wider context the "war" was left out of the title. It is important to Waihi that the name is correct as our town feels strongly about its industrial heritage.