Helensville's earliest Great War memorial was a framed and illuminated roll of honour listing the names of men who had gone to the front from Helensville, Parakai and Te Pua. This was reportedly placed in the local library in August 1918, but its whereabouts is now unknown.
After the war's end, a proposal to build a memorial cottage hospital briefly found favour with both the Kaipara RSA and the Helensville Town Board, but it was eventually decided instead to erect a memorial column topped by the statue of a New Zealand soldier. Designed and sculpted by W.H. Feldon, this was unveiled in the Parakai Domain on Anzac Day 1922. Four scrolls around the shaft were inscribed with the names of 33 men from the district who had given their lives (including eight from Mairetahi).
See also Helensville war memorial hall and Helensville memorial cemetery.
Images: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c1986; John Halpin, 2015
Text: Bruce Ringer, 2024
Sources: 'Roll of honour' [public notice], Kaipara & Waitemata Echo, 8/8/1918, p. 2; 'Helensville Town Board', Kaipara & Waitemata Echo, 18/3/1920, p. 3; ‘Soldiers Memorial: Arrival at Springs’, Kaipara & Waitemata Echo, 1/12/1921, p. 2; [Note], Auckland Star, 27/3/1922, p. 4; C.M. Sheffield, Men Came Voyaging, 4th ed., Auckland, 2011, pp. 182-4.