Dunedin railway station war memorial

Roll of honour and Passchendaele memorial nameplate at Dunedin railway station. The roll commemorates 56 members of the Dunedin section of New Zealand Railways (NZR) who lost their lives during the First World War. See also the twin nameplate at Christchurch railway station.

Among those listed on this memorial is NZR clerk Antonie Beekman (4/646), who was killed in a training accident at Trentham Camp on 15 June 1916. The 42-year-old Captain Beekman, who had earlier been invalided home from Egypt, was the Engineers' chief instructor at Trentham. He was demonstrating bomb throwing in front of a crowd including the Governor and senior military officials when he was killed by an explosion.

Another of those named on the roll, 31-year-old Seacliff surfaceman Thomas Downes (8/149), must have been one of the first NZR employees killed in action during the war – he died at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915.