The Patumāhoe Domain originally consisted of a single acre of land behind the Patumāhoe hall accessed from a stub road off the Mauku Road. After the Second World War, local residents proposed extending the domain and developing further sporting facilities as a community war memorial. Seven acres were added to the domain in 1949. This was formally renamed the Patumāhoe War Memorial Domain in 1956, by which time bowling, tennis, croquet, basketball and rugby facilities had been developed.
A further extension to the domain in 1958 allowed the development of war memorial gates to proceed at the domain’s new Patumāhoe Road entrance. These had been completed by November 1958.
The Second World War roll of honour on two pink granite tablets set into the pillars lists 38 local men, five of whom were killed in action. On 5 December 2015 a plaque honouring Private Richard Harris, killed in Afghanistan on 19 August 2012, was also unveiled.
Sources: Archives New Zealand, Patumahoe War Memorial Domain files: BAAZ 1109/706/a; BADY 1109 A1645/447/a; BADY 1109 A1645/447/b; Patumahoe School Centennial, 1866-1966, Patumahoe, 1966, p. 51; ‘Memorial service and plaque to remember fallen soldier’, Weekend Herald, 5/12/2015, A15; ‘Memorial plaque unveiled’, Franklin County News, 8/12/2015, p. 1; Patumahoe: History & Memories, comp. Kay Carter, Patumahoe, 2016, pp. 189-91.
Community contributions