The Waipū Caledonian Society roll of honour was unveiled in the Coronation Hall in March 1920. The oak-framed certificate listed 91 members and ex-members of the society who had served during the Great War, including two nurses (Sisters Mary and Hugha Sutherland). Sixteen men had died: six at Gallipoli, three at sea, two in France, two in England, two in Turkey, and one in Egypt. The certificate was embellished with the British, Scottish, and New Zealand flags, the Caledonian Society’s badge (a thistle), and illustrations of clematis, pohutukawa and ferns, scenes in France and Egypt and around Waipū.
The roll of honour is now on display in the Waipū Museum.
The museum also preserves the North River School’s First World War roll of honour. North River School was closed in 1939 when several local schools were consolidated into the Waipū District High School. The roll of honour was transferred first to the new school then to the museum. There is also a framed photo board on display with portraits of 23 men from Waipū who gave their lives during the Second World War. This was presented to the Waipū House of Memories (the predecessor of the museum) by the Waipū Riding Returned Services Club.
See: ‘Local and General’, Northern Advocate, 28/7/1919, p. 2; ‘Waipū Caledonian Society Roll of Honour’, Northern Advocate, 17/3/1920, p. 3.
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