On 29 September 2005 a tohu or memorial stone to Sergeant/Pilot Barney Poukeke Warbrick was unveiled at a ceremony held on the Waiuku golf course. On 16 August 1944 Sergeant Warbrick died when he crashed his Corsair NZ 5515 into the golf course on a training flight from Ardmore airfield. He was the first trained pilot of Ngāti Te Ata descent.
The tohu, carved by George and Karl Flavell, depicts a hawk and a Corsair aeroplane on the front and a korowai (feathered cloak) on the back, the latter honouring Sergeant Warbrick as a Ngāti Te Ata rangatira.
Barney Warbrick is buried at Tahuna Marae, to the north of Waiuku. His name is also listed on the Puni roll of honour and in a grove of memorial trees at Puni School and on a roll of honour in the Wesley College chapel.
Sources: ‘Pilot Loses Life: Accident Near Waiuku’, Auckland Star, 17/8/1944, p. 2; Bryan Cox, Pacific Scrapbook, 1943-1947, Roseville NSW, 1997, p. 36; ‘Carved tohu honours fallen pilot’, Franklin County News, 27/9/20005, p. 3; Tony Waters, ‘Aircraft Crash on Waiuku Golf Course’, t/s, 2005; Cenotaph Database.
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