THE TOUR

Chelsea Sugar Refinery, Birkenhead

Despite the rising prices of unrefined sugar, the Chelsea Sugar Refinery reduced profits during the war years in order to continue its supply to the country.

Motuihe Island

One of the main internment camps during the war (along with Somes Island in Wellington), by late 1917 Motuihe Island accommodated 56 internees, 41 of these having been part of the German settlements in Samoa and German New Guinea.

Albany Memorial Library

Opened in December 1922, this was built in memory of the 23 who died out of the 77 local men who served as soldiers.

Sanders Avenue, Takapuna

This street was named after Lieutenant Commander WE Sanders, posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery after his ship, HMS Prize, sank with the loss of all aboard. Many streets throughout New Zealand are named after soldiers.

Auckland War Memorial Museum

After the war Auckland considered ways to commemorate its war dead. It was decided that: “A Museum will… preserve… relics of the conflict on sea and land, establish a permanent record of effort and achievement by the Dominion’s youth… treasure the memories of fallen soldiers, and… preserve for future generations the inspiration of the war’s heroism and self sacrifice”. (The New Zealand Herald, 11 October 1920)

O’Neill's Point Cemetary, Bayswater

Here can be found the graves of men from Rarotonga and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands who were recruited to join the New Zealand Army, only to die here from diseases they had never before encountered. Of 153 Niueans who trained at Narrow Neck Camp, one died on Christmas Day 1915 and was buried in the cemetery. Two more Niuean soldiers and one Cook Island soldier who died during training in 1916 are also buried here. A returning Cook Island soldier was buried here in 1917, having served in Egypt and Palestine.

The influenza epidemic of late 1918 hit Narrow Neck Camp particularly hard and in early October 1918 there were 226 cases, of whom 21 died. All but one were buried in the cemetery, including 10 Maori, three from Kiribati, one from Fiji, one from the Cook Islands and a nurse and four Pakeha soldiers who died in the nearby barracks.

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

Colonial Ammunition Company Shot Tower, Mount Eden

The Colonial Ammunition Company was established in 1885 and supplied munitions to Australia and New Zealand. When demand grew during World War I, the company built a steel-framed shot tower to create lead pellets.

Shot was made by passing molten lead through a sieve at the top of the tower which solidified as it fell into a water-filled pit in a room at its base. The shot was then polished, graded and stored in corrugated-iron structures attached to the tower; it was recycled if found to be imperfect.

The shot tower is of national and international importance as the only remaining example in New Zealand and the only one of steel-framed construction believed to be in existence in the Southern Hemisphere.

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

Spragg Memorial, Cornwallis

A majestic stone obelisk rises at the crest of a hill in Kaitarakihi Park with a vista over the Waitemata Harbour. Commemorating the death of his son, Wesley Neal Spragg, a member of the Royal Flying Corps who was killed in an aircraft accident in Cairo in 1918, a grieving father gifted 307 hectares to the city on the condition that a memorial be built in memory not only of his son but of “all the boys” of Auckland who died in the war. Etched into the granite is a poem entitled Gone West

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

The council resolved in February 1919 that “All views from the said monument over all aspects both distant and near shall be free, open and unobstructed”.

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

Otahuhu War Memorial

A horse raises its front leg, nostrils flared, flanks rippling, and astride it sits a soldier, rifle slung over his back, hands on the reins. He is a trooper of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, cast life-size in bronze and mounted high on a white stone plinth which sits on an island at the crossroads of Great South and Mangere Roads.

Local businessman and boot manufacturer Albert Trenwith gifted the memorial to the borough to commemorate those who served in the war, including those who lost their lives. Governor-General Sir Charles Fergusson unveiled the memorial on Anzac Day in 1928.

Auckland Harbour Board Memorial Beacon, The Viaduct

In 1915 the Auckland Harbour Board decided to build a memorial to its employees who served during the war. It was one of the first World War I memorials in New Zealand.

Melanesian Mission Hall, Mission Bay

The Walsh Flying School used the Melanesian Mission Hall as a base to train about onethird of 300 World War I pilots, New Zealand being the only British Empire country where private enterprise instead of the government trained its pilots.

Awana Beach, Great Barrier Island

A German mine washed up here in 1918. German mines were laid off the New Zealand coastline by the German raider SS Wolf.

Onehunga Woollen Mills

More than 460 men from Onehunga served in World War I. The local business community supported the war effort and in 1917 Onehunga Woollen Mills received a government order worth £95,341 to produce khaki material.

Papatoetoe Central School Memorial Gates

The stone arch and gates of honour were built post-war. A commemorative ceremony was held at the site on Anzac Day 1922 with more than 350 children in attendance. The gates once served as the main school entrance.

Auckland Grammar School

Two hundred and sixty-eight old boys from Auckland Grammar School died in World War I. Their names were read out by headmaster JW Tibbs at prizegivings. In 1916 the list included his son.

Avondale Racecourse

This was used as a military training camp from 1910. The Native Contingent camped here from 1914 to 1915 and the New Zealand Tunnelling Company from 1915 to 1916. (See more about the tunnellers on page 31.)

Howick War Memorial, Stockade Hill

This memorial obelisk was unveiled in 1921 and for many years served as the site for wreath-laying ceremonies. In 1961 the entire Anzac Day service for the local area was held on the hill where it stands.

Ahuroa Hall, Rodney

Opened in 1911, the hall was used as the venue to farewell local boys who left for war. Returning soldiers were presented with gold medals contributed by the community; they became known as Ahuroa Medals.

Narrow Neck Camp, Fort Takapuna

Narrow Neck Camp, built in 1886 in response to a Russian invasion scare, was used as a training base for the New Zealand Pioneer (Maori) Battalion and the Pacific Island contingents and also housed Maori prisoners who opposed conscription.

Devonport Convalescent Home

In 1915 the need for convalescent homes in Auckland for returning wounded soldiers became apparent and 30 homes were offered to the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for this purpose.

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

In July 1915 an offer of Mr A Watson’s house and grounds at Devonport was accepted. Devonport residents contributed to the cost, the home was staffed with volunteers from the Devonport Nursing Division and St John Ambulance Brigade and was first used in mid-1916. The length of time soldiers stayed varied, with up to 24 at a time. About 300 had passed through the home by the time it closed in December 1919. It was later demolished. A concrete pool behind the home which filled at high tide survives (in a reconstructed version) and can be accessed by walking to the back of the Naval Museum in King Edward Parade.

Helensville Railway Station

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

At railway stations families and friends of soldiers came to wave goodbye, not knowing when or if they would see their loved ones again. New Zealand Rail was essential to the mobilisation and training of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. When three young men left for Trentham Military Camp on 18 November 1915, the Helensville Platoon gathered at Helensville Railway Station to give them three hearty cheers as they departed. In August 1916 a large gathering assembled “to bid adieu to another batch of our boys, who are shouldering the rifle for the cause of the Empire”. The Helensville Brass Band, Defence Rifle Club and senior cadets turned out to enliven the proceedings.

Piha War Memorial

A plaque on Lion Rock was unveiled on 6 December 1919, listing the names of the men from the Piha State Sawmill and the bushmen who worked in the area who served in World War I. The plaque was rededicated in 1934. Each Anzac Day, a large parade takes place on the beach, continuing a tradition begun by the families of the mill community. The Otahuhu and Districts Pipe Band has been coming for 50 years, playing to the hundreds of people attending, including descendants of soldiers whose names are amongst those on the plaque.

Lion Rock, Piha

Credit: Chris Van Ryn

The plaque on Lion Rock

Credit: Chris Van Ryn