Mercer's unusual memorial - roadside stories

A memorial at Mercer remembers two wars – one far away and one close to home. The memorial to First World War soldiers is built on top of the gun turret of the Pioneer, a naval vessel used by British forces in their 1860s war against Waikato Māori. The Pioneer transported troops and shelled pā (Māori fortified settlements) on the Waikato River.

Transcript

Narrator: Like most New Zealand small towns, the Waikato town of Mercer has a World War One memorial honouring soldiers from the area. However, its story dates back 50 years earlier to a different war.

The unusual base of the memorial is actually the gun turret of the Pioneer, a boat which was used on the Waikato River by British forces during their 1860s war against Waikato Māori. This gunboat was one of the first naval vessels in the world which was designed with revolving gun turrets. The Pioneer was a paddle steamer clad in protective iron. It had two revolving gun turrets and was New Zealand’s first purpose-built warship. The revolving guns allowed vessels to fire in several directions without having to manoeuvre into position first.

Māori had used the Waikato River as a transport and trade highway for centuries. When the first European missionaries ventured into the Waikato region, the river also proved an essential way to get around. It also played an important role during the Waikato War.

The British were keen to invade the Waikato and suppress the Māori rebellion against the colonial government, and also secure fertile Waikato land. The British campaign would have started earlier, but they decided to wait so they could gather more troops and build a road, as well as bring in settlers from the Otago goldfields and Australia to enlist as soldiers.

The Great South Road, a military road constructed from Drury, stopped at Mercer. After the two-day trip from Auckland, goods and men were loaded onto the Pioneer or its partner craft, the Avon, at Mercer’s wharf. The wharf stood opposite where the memorial is now located. Once loaded, the Pioneer and the Avon travelled along the Waikato River to key locations. These two vessels and some barges were effectively New Zealand’s first navy flotilla.

The Pioneer and Avon were used not only to transport troops and goods, but survey enemy positions and shell defended pās. Both boats were used in the successful 1863 attacks at Rangiriri, and a few weeks earlier, at the pā at Meremere, which was defended by about 2000 Māori warriors.  

The Māori defenders at Meremere were equipped with muskets but they did not have any shot so used anything they had on hand. Most of their shots simply rattled off the iron sides of the Pioneer, although it is said that a cask of beef on the deck became a casualty.  

However, soon after these battles the two gun turrets on the Pioneer were removed. It is possible this was done to make the vessel lighter. One gun turret was left at Mercer and the other at Ngāruawāhia. The Pioneer eventually sank in 1866 on the Manukau Bar near Auckland. 

During the late nineteenth century, the gun turret at Mercer was used as a police lock-up for intoxicated people. Then, in 1922, it was turned into the World War One memorial we see today. New Zealand’s casualty rate during this war was one of the highest. Afterwards, memorials were erected in every New Zealand town to soldiers who had lost their lives. This memorial is one of a small group of First World War memorials created in the 1920s that also remembers the New Zealand Wars.