Featherston Military Training Camp, located in the flat, empty countryside between Featherston township and the Tauherenikau River, was opened in January 1916. At the peak of its activity during the First World War, the camp housed as many as 8000 men. After the war, the site was used briefly as an internment camp, a TB hospital, and a storage depot. From 1920, the buildings were sold or demolished. (The Kahutara and Kaiwaiwai halls were both formerly part of the camp's Soldiers' Club.)
The site was retained by the Defence Department, and from 1942 to 1946 part of it was used to house a prisoner of war camp for Japanese military personnel. On 25 February 1943 a tragic incident occurred when a protest by about 250 prisoners escalated and the guards opened fire: 48 prisoners were either killed on the spot or died later of their wounds. One guard, Walter Bevin, also died of wounds received from a ricocheting bullet.
The camps and the incident have been described elsewhere (see Featherston Camp, Featherston incident, Featherston's camp - roadside stories, and the sources listed below). This entry describes the memorials which have been established at the site.
After the prisoner of war camp was closed, the buildings were demolished or removed and most of the land was sold. However, during the 1970s, interest in Featherston's military past revived. On Anzac Day 1975, Featherston was officially 'twinned' with the Belgian town of Messines, which was liberated by New Zealand troops in 1917, and a proposal was made to rename the section of State Highway 2 that bisected the site of the camp as 'Messines Way'. In 1976 a group of local citizens began raising funds to purchase a plot of land south of the highway for a memorial park or layby. This area was subsequently vested in the Featherston Borough Council and a sign was erected to mark its purpose ('This site is a memorial to the Featherston W.W.I camp and the soldiers who passed through it. It also emphasizes Featherston's international "twinning" with Messines in Belgium, and recalls the W.W.II Japanese prisoner of war camp.')
The memorial park was formally opened on Anzac Day 1979. A cenotaph or Stone of Remembrance, similar in design to one in Polygon Wood, Belgium, had been erected at its centre. This was unveiled by Featherston mayor Bill McKerrow and dedicated by Army chaplain Padre Michael Cahill to the memory of all who had trained at the camp.
A plaque on one side of the cenotaph bore the inscription: 'This camp was the last / New Zealand home for / thousands of W.W. II soldiers / - Let us keep N.Z. / worthy of their dying.' In 2021 this plaque was replaced with corrected wording: 'Featherston Camp was the / last home for thousands / of soldiers in World War One / (1914-1918)/ Let us keep New Zealand / worthy of their dying'.
A plaque on the other side of the cenotaph gave some historical information. A revised and corrected version was also unveiled in 2021: 'Featherston Military Training Camp / Operational from 24 January 1916 / In 1917 the camp post office was 5th / busiest in New Zealand. / The land opposite this memorial park was / the main barrack camp. / The area east of Camp Road was Canvas / Town which served as a "hardening up" / process before departing on the Rimutaka / route march to Trentham Camp and final embarkation.'
The park contained a number of other memorial items. A small Japanese section featured eight cherry trees and displayed a memorial plaque provided by a group of former POWs. Its inscription combined two Japanese characters and an English translation ('[Chin Kon] / Repose of souls / Ex Japanese P.O.W. W.W.II'). Nearby was another plaque donated by local businessman K.J. Nyssen, who had brought the Batavian Rubber Company to Featherston in 1961. This was inscribed with the text of a haiku by the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and an English translation ('Behold the summer grass / All that remains of the / dreams of warriors.')
Concrete seats and tables were donated by the Japanese, Belgian and American governments and the NZRSA. The plaque on the Japanese embassy's seat read: 'In memory of 68 servicemen who died here in World War Two' (referring to all the Japanese POWs who died at the camp). The Belgian plaque read: 'Donated by the Belgian people / In gratitude to NZ Servicemen / who were the first to liberate Messines / in W.W.I.' The American plaque read: 'Donated by the / N.Z. American Association Inc. / "For I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep." / Robert Frost'). The RSA plaque read: 'Donated by the N.Z.R.S.A. (Inc.) / In fond memory of those who gave /their lives for their country.'
After a ceremony was held by former POWs at the Repose of Souls plaque on 12 December 1986, the idea arose of establishing a Japanese 'peace garden' incorporating a more substantial memorial to the Japanese POWs. In 1993 Toshio Nakamoto, owner of the Japanese company Juken Nissho (JNL), which had opened a timber mill near Masterton in 1991, bought a plot of land beside the memorial park for this purpose, and donated it to the South Wairarapa District Council. However, the proposal initially met with strong opposition from the RSA.
Over the next few years, attitudes gradually mellowed, particularly after a visit to Featherston by the Japanese amateur male-voice choir Chor-Farmer in 2000. The scope of the memorial project was reduced. On 6 July 2001, a tree-planting ceremony was held at the new site, with local volunteers planting 68 cherry trees. The peace garden was formally opened in July 2002. A modestly sized gazebo was erected, and on 6 September 2012 a memorial shelter in which historical images were displayed was opened.
The garden of remembrance, usually referred to as the 'Japanese Peace Garden', was officially named Sakura ('Cherry Blossom') Garden in 2016.
On 8 December 1996, a plaque dedicated to the memory of Private Walter Pelvin was unveiled ('Private Walter Pelvin / No. 496685 HD N.Z.T.S. / died 28.2.1943 / As a result of injuries received on duty / during the disturbance at the POW camp, / Featherston on 25th February 1943'). In a corner of the grounds, a descendant of Gallipoli's Lone Pine bears a plaque: 'Gallipoli Medallion / Aleppo Pine (Pinus Brutia) / Hellensis / Descendant Lone Pine / on Gallipoli / Obtained / Melbourne Garden of Memories.'
Sources (in chronological order of publication): C.J. Carle, Gateway to the Wairarapa, Featherston, 1957, pp. 123-32; 'Featherston and its twin', Featherston Chronicle, 5/5/1975, pp. 6, 13; 'Featherston's Camp memorial', Featherston Chronicle, 29/1/1979, p. 13; 'Featherston's military camp memorial', Featherston Chronicle, 26/3/1979, p. 12; 'Unveiling of memorial', Featherston Chronicle, 7/5/1979, p. 6; Owen Sanders, Incident at Featherston, Auckland, 1990, p. 51; Denis Welch, 'Disputed ground', NZ Listener, 16/9/1995, pp. 24-6; Mike Nicolaidi, The Featherston Chronicles: A Legacy of War, Auckland, 1999; David Yerex, Featherston, the First 150 years, 1857-2007, Featherston, 2007, pp. 117-21, 170-2; Yukiko Numata Bedford, 'The "Peace Gardens", Featherston, South Wairarapa and the Chor-Farmer', Environment & Nature, vol. 5, no. 2, December 2010, pp. 16-30; Neil Frances, 'Walking on Featherston Camp', The Volunteers, vol. 36, no. 3, March 2011, pp. 155-62; Neil Frances, Safe Haven: The Untold Story of New Zealand's Largest Ever Military Camp, Featherston, 1916-1919, Masterton, 2012, pp. 163-4, facing p. 152; Tim Shoebridge, Featherston Military Training Camp and the First World War, 1915-27, [print edition] Wellington, 2012, pp. 48-50; Yasuhiro Ota, Shooting and Friendship over Japanese Prisoners of War, MA thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North, 2013; Matt Philp, 'A safe haven', Heritage New Zealand, no. 133, Winter 2014, pp. 20-3; Imelda Bargas and Tim Shoebridge, New Zealand's First World War Heritage, Auckland, 2015, pp. 48-51, 62-5, 75; 'Mayor surprises top choir', Wairarapa Times-Age, 13/9/2016, p. 5.
Images: Neil Frances, 2022
Text: Bruce Ringer, 2022