In 1947, Te Aroha's citizens resolved to erect a memorial clock tower on the intersection of Kenrick Street and Whitaker Street as the town’s Second World War memorial. The tower was dedicated on Anzac Day 1955. It incorporates a bronze plaque with the names of 70 men from the district who gave their lives, listed by town or village: Te Aroha, Ngarua, Waitoa, Springdale, Manawaru, Elstow, Te Aroha West-Wairakau and Mangaiti.
A garden was developed to link this memorial with Te Aroha's First World War memorial. On Anzac Day 1963 a soldiers’ memorial fountain was also unveiled (since removed).
Sources: ‘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.
Images: Bruce Ringer, 2014; Jamie Mackay, 2012
Text: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014