Rangitāiki ward councillor Wilson James is hoping to see the resumption of Anzac Day ceremonies in Awakeri since a new war memorial monument has been installed.

The Roll of Honour in the Awakeri War Memorial Hall has been replicated in granite and mounted on a rock in a memorial area at the entrance to Awakeri School and the Awakeri Events Centre carpark.

Whakatāne District Council community experience general manager Georgina Fletcher says the council has developed the memorial after consultation with Mr James, Awakeri School and members of the Awakeri community.

She says the monument creates a link between the Events Centre and the school.

Mr James says the new plaque memorialises 13 members of this small rural community who gave their lives in World Wars I and II. He says the families of some of those listed on the roll of honour still live in the area.

Anzac Day ceremonies have previously taken place in the Awakeri War Memorial Hall, built in the 1950s before it was sold by Whakatāne District Council in 2017.

The hall sold for $135,000 and part of that money had been intended to go toward a new memorial at the new Events Centre beside Awakeri School. However, the money for the sale of the hall was barely sufficient to fulfill its obligation to accommodate the Awakeri Scouts in the adjoining building, which is now privately owned.

In March last year, five years after the sale of the hall, the council asked staff to take another look at erecting a memorial in the car park between the school and the events centre.

The plaque has been installed in the past two weeks, with little fanfare.

A War Memorial Monument structure has recently been erected in Awakeri in remembrance of the Awakeri community war heroes.

Ms Fletcher says council staff applied to Veteran’s Affairs New Zealand for funding assistance for the memorial, and $3000 was provided for the project. The overall cost to council was $8635.

“Hopefully, next year, we can have an Anzac ceremony here,” says Mr James.

He has visited the site on Anzac Day last year, leaving a wreath there, after attending the ceremony in Matatā.

Mr James, who was instrumental in the building of the Awakeri Events Centre, has long been keen for the original roll of honour to be moved across to the new centre. However, the owner of the Awakeri War Memorial Hall, Tyron Erasmus, is keen to preserve the old hall as a community facility with the roll of honour in place.

Mr James says the new memorial is an appropriate place for it as it will be easily visible for students from Awakeri School as well as anyone using the Events Centre.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.