Warkworth war memorial, c. 1986.
The Warkworth and districts First World War memorial is a plain granite obelisk which stands near the Warkworth band rotunda on Church Hill. It was moved here in 1931 from its original location at the intersection of Queen and Elizabeth streets.
An inscription on the base records that it was erected on Armistice Day 1921. The formal unveiling, by Frank Mander, the MP for Marsden, took place on Anzac Day 1922.
The principal inscription reads: THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED / - BY THE - / INHABITANTS OF WARKWORTH / STREAMLANDS / POHUEHUE, / MAHURANGI HEADS & / MULLET POINT, IN MEMORY OF / THOSE WHO, FROM THESE / DISTRICTS, GAVE THEIR LIVES / IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914 – 1919.
The obelisk does not display the names of the fallen. These can be found on the Rodney County Roll of Honour in the Warkworth Town Hall, and on memorial tablets in the Warkworth War Memorial Library and Warkworth & Districts RSA clubrooms.
Sources: ‘Soldiers’ Memorial’, NZ Herald, 3/2/1920, p. 8; ‘Memorial to Fallen Soldiers’, Rodney & Otamatea Times, 19/4/1922, p. 4; ‘Warkworth Affairs’, NZ Herald, 28/4/1922, p. 5; ‘Memorial to Fallen Soldiers: Unveiling Ceremony’, Rodney & Otamatea Times, 3/5/1922, p. 4; ‘Anzac Day Memorial Service’, Rodney & Otamatea Times, 29/4/1931, p. 4; H.J. Keys, Mahurangi: The Story of Warkworth, Warkworth, 1954, pp. 218, 238-9; Harry Bioletti, Warkworth, New Zealand, Warkworth, 1993, p. 29.
Community contributions