In 1919 the Te Awamutu postmaster, W.F.Y. Stewart, presented a memorial sundial to the Te Awamutu Borough Council. This was erected in the St John's Anglican Church cemetery.
The churchyard was possibly chosen as a suitable location because of the existing presence of several Waikato War memorials in the church and churchyard (see St John's Church NZ Wars memorial and St John's Church Māori NZ Wars memorial).
Not long after its installation, the sundial was badly damaged by vandals. It was restored in 1931 by the late donor's brother, who had himself made the original item.
The inscription on the face of the sundial reads: IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND THOSE WHO FIGHTING FELL / NOT ONLY IN DEFENCE OF THEIR HOME AND KINDRED BUT FOR OUR EMPIRE / - PRESENTED BY - / WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN STEWART / - 1919 - / POSTMASTER TE AWAMUTU.
The sundial is by no means Te Awamutu's only First World War memorial. The Te Awamutu First World War civic memorial was unveiled on Anzac Green on 30 May 1923. And a brass First World War memorial tablet (not pictured here) was unveiled in St John's itself by the Bishop of Auckland on 18 May 1924.
See: 'Te Awamutu Borough', Waipa Post, 30/9/19, p. 5; ‘Memorial tablet unveiled at Te Awamutu’, NZ Herald, 20/5/1924, p. 6; 'Sundial memorial', Waipa Post, 14/3/1931, p. 4; 150 years of worship: A history of old St Johns Church, Te Awamutu, Te Awamutu, 2004, pp. 12-14, 32-6.
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