Whangamomona war memorial

Whangamomona war memorial
Site Style Ornamentation Unveiling Date No of Dead
beside road
(at Kohuratahi)
square obelisk       41 / 3

Whangamoana war memorial

 

Whangamoana war memorial

Whangamoana war memorial

Whangamoana war memorial

Whangamoana war memorial

Whangamomona war memorial.

Glennis Austin

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What do you know?

Clive Gifford

Posted: 28 Apr 2008

The following document gives a bit more information on the history about this memorial plus has additional photos: http://www.stratford.govt.nz/files/HeritageInventoryPages56to110.pdf Here is a copy of the main text from that document: Kohuratahi was a reasonably prosperous settlement, with a post office, dairy factory, school, railway station, store, hall, and billiard rooms by the end of the First World War. Combined with Whangamomona and Tahora, the total number of men who sacrificed their lives during WWI was 51, which had a huge impact on these communities. For this reason, in 1921 Mr. A.H. Perry (the secretary of the Kohuratahi War Memorial Committee) applied to the Whangamomona County Council for permission to erect a memorial monument to these men. The site requested for the proposed monument was near the entrance to the Kohuratahi Railway Station. Solicitors advised the Council that the memorial could not legally be placed there (as it was on road reserve) unless the council itself erected the monument. Following this, an Order in Council was published in the NZ Gazette #82 (8 September 1921) that authorised the “Whangamomona County Council to erect a Monument on Ohura Road as a Permanent War Memorial”. The Kohuratahi War Cenotaph was duly erected, and is a permanent commemoration to the young men who enlisted from the districts of Whangamomona, Kohuratahi and Tahora."