Rotorua Boys' High School memorial

The War Memorial Hall at Rotorua Boys’ High School is the largest War Memorial in Rotorua.

It was built in 1959, and was officially opened by Major-General (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Leonard Thornton, Chief of General Staff, on 3 December, 1960. It is dedicated to the sixty-one Old Boys and two staff members of the School who died in the First and Second World Wars and the Vietnam War.

The War Memorial Hall’s memorial features include the Māori carvings surrounding the outside of the main entrance doors; the carvings surrounding the stage proscenium; the two carved Totara Roll of Honour panels with the men’s names flanking both sides of the proscenium; and the War Dead Portraits hung down both sides of each Roll of Honour panel. The War Dead Portraits were unveiled by Old Boy, Major Chris Gray, of the New Zealand Army, at a special Anzac Assembly held on 16 April, 2013.

There is also a War Decorations Honours Board listing the names of the Old Boys who were decorated in the Second World War for their valour and this was also unveiled on 16 April, 2013, by J.H. Stafford, D.F.C. The Evans Memorial Portrait and Memorial Plaque honouring Major W.H. Evans of the Hauraki Regiment, who was killed at the Battle of Crete in 1941, are also displayed in the War Memorial Hall.