Major-General Sir Edward Chaytor unveiled the Te Aroha First World War memorial at the intersection of Church and Kenrick streets on 15 September 1923. The bronze statue by Italian sculptor Giobanni depicted a soldier in full kit holding a rifle with bayonet fixed (some photographs show the statue without a bayonet, as this needs to be replaced from time to time). The statue was mounted on a colonnaded granite plinth inscribed with the names of 100 men from the district who had given their lives.
A garden was developed to link this memorial with Te Aroha's Second World War memorial. On Anzac Day 1963 a soldiers’ memorial fountain (since removed) was unveiled.
Sources: ‘Te Aroha Memorial: The Unveiling Ceremony’, NZ Herald, 10/9/1923, p. 8; ‘War Memorials Unveiled’, NZ Herald, 17/9/1923, p. 6; ‘Vandals’ Work’, Auckland Star, 29/12/1939, p. 6; ‘Anzac Memorial Service: Te Aroha Pays Tribute’, Te Aroha News, 27/4/1955, p. 5; ‘Fountain Ready by Anzac Day’, NZ Herald, 8/4/1963; C. Kingsley-Smith, This is Te Aroha, 1981, p. 77; Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, The Sorrow and the Pride, Wellington, 1990, pp. 72-3, 99, 126, 128.
Main image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c. 1986
Other images: Pam Gore, 2010; Jamie Mackay, 2012: Bruce Ringer, 2014
Text: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014