Taradale’s First World War memorial is an impressive concrete clock tower located in a small park at the intersection of Avondale Street and Gloucester Road, Taradale. The tower was designed by Jack Ellis and built by A.B. Davis. It was unveiled by Governor General Viscount Jellicoe on 16 December 1923.
The dedicatory tablet reveals more than a hint of civic pride, TARADALE AND DISTRICT SOLDIERS / MEMORIAL / RESIDENTS ELECTED GENERAL COMMITTEE / 26TH FEB 1917. / MEMORIAL UNVEILED BY / ADMIRAL VISCOUNT JELLICOE / GOVERNOR GENERAL OF N.Z. / 16TH DEC. 1923. / W. JARVIS CHAIRMAN. J. ELLIS CHAIRMAN TOWN BOARD. / J. WILLIAMSON SEC.
The roll of honour is inscribed on marble tablets set into alcoves on three faces of the clock tower. The tablet listing the names of the district’s 61 fallen is set underneath an arch inscribed DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI [:] ERECTED IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND IN FIGHTING FELL. This tablet was paid for by donations from the children of local schools.
The names of those who returned from service are listed on tablets set in alcoves headed respectively ONE GOD. ONE FLAG. ONE EMPIRE. PRO LIBERTATATE and PAKU I TAKU TINANA E NUI ANA I TAKU MANAWA. Together, these tablets display 245 names.
See: ‘To the Fallen: Taradale’s Memorial Unveiled by Lord Jellicoe’, Daily Telegraph, 17/12/1923; Janet Gordon and Shirley Spence, Taradale: The Story of a Village, 1844-2000, Taradale, 2000, pp. 78; see also Archives NZ file relating to this memorial, including original drawings and site plans. (9mbs, pdf).
Main images and text: Bruce Ringer; 2016; c1986 image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean