The memorial obelisk at the intersection of Pouewe and Jervois Streets, Kāwhia, was unveiled by Dr J.B.W. Roberton on 25 April 1960. The inscription on its base was intended to represent neither a particular district nor a particular war, but to commemorate all fallen servicemen. It read: TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / THAT WE MIGHT LIVE IN FREEDOM.
It is unclear whether the Kāwhia War Memorial Library behind the obelisk was opened at the same time.
There is a Kāwhia and Districts First World War roll of honour on the memorial lychgate at All Saints’ Anglican church, further up Pouewe Street. There are also reportedly rolls of honour at the local bowling club and in the Kāwhia cemetery (the names are listed in Peg Cumming’s history of Kāwhia, cited below).
See: ‘War Memorial Unveiled’, NZ Herald, 26/4/1960; Peg Cumming, A History of Kawhia and Its District, Kāwhia, 2004, pp. 91, 111, 125; Margaret Jenner, Small Libraries of New Zealand, Tauranga, 2005, p. 22.
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