The Kaihere war memorial pavilion, a small building which was intended to serve both as a library and a sports pavilion, was unveiled in the Kaihere domain in October 1929. A stone cairn was erected outside the pavilion, inset with a granite tablet which honoured two local men who had given their lives, Henry Phillips and Frederick Lincoln McIndoe.
In 2005 the cairn, pavilion and local hall were all moved to the grounds of the local school. A new memorial was built in front of the resited hall. This included both the original First World War cairn and a similar cairn honouring men who had died in the Second World War (Donald Anderson, Ian Smallfield and Sidney Chaplan/Sexton), along with a tribute to others who had served. A low memorial wall between the two cairns was set with plaques honouring old identities of the district. This new or adapted war memorial-cum-settlers’ memorial was dedicated on 25 April 2006.
The Kaihere district and school’s histories together list the names of five local men who served in the South African War, 35 who served in the First World War, 22 in the Second World War, and one in the Korean War.
Sources: ‘Memorial to Fallen: Building at Kaihere’, NZ Herald, 22/10/1929, p. 12; Kaihere: A History of the Hauraki Plains West District, Kaihere, 1940, [pp. 38-40]; Freda Brooks, Kaihere School and District Jubilee, Morrinsville, 1964, pp. 58, 63; Kaihere School & District: One Hundredth Jubilee, comp. Tracey Spence, Kaihere, 2014, p. 24.
Main image and First World War cairn: Meghan Hawkes (ed) (2014) From Gold Mine to Firing Line: 'The Thames' and the Great War 1914-1918, Coromandel Heritage Trust
Other images and text: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014