Akaroa war memorial, unveiled in 1923 (see black and white photographs above).
The memorial comprises a reserve and seating surrounding an elaborate free-standing cupola with a granite spire and fly buttresses, right in the centre of town.
The interior of the cupola and the exposed arches are from Oamaru limestone and the main structure is constructed from what appears to be Halswell Basalt. The names of the remembered service persons are engraved on granite tablets.
The is a seat at the edge of the reserve erected in 1995 and a bronze tablet recording the name of the local police officer who was apparently so instrumental in getting the reserve set aside for the memorial.
In 2010 the Akaroa war memorial was badly damaged in the Darfield earthquake.
After the earthquake a team of dedicated locals fundraised and organised the rebuilding of the memorial. Work began in September 2014, with the memorial earthquake strengthened, new paths added, and a wall completed from the 1920s plan that had previously not been realised.
If you have have any images of the newly rebuit memorial please email [email protected]
Top image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, 1986
Other images and information: Bruce Comfort, 2010; 1923 images: From the Historic Collections of the Institute of Naval Medicine, by kind permission of the Medical Officer in Charge; 2019 images: Eve Woodham; Carol Bowen; 2020 images: Christine Clement; Eve Woodham
Find out more about the people listed on this memorial from Auckland Museum's Cenotaph database