On 13 June 1900 the Union Jack was ceremonially unfurled on the Onehunga School’s newly erected 55-feet high flagpole (the Red Ensign and the New Zealand flag were also hoisted). A few days later, a brass tablet was placed on the flagpole bearing the words:
“This tablet was erected by the people of Onehunga to commemorate the departure of the undernamed volunteers for active service in South Africa”. This is followed by a total of 16 names of local men who had departed with the First, Second, Fourth or Fifth Contingents.
The plaque has long since been transferred to a flagpole in the Waikaraka Services Cemetery. Near the flagpole is the granite base of the Robert Friar memorial drinking fountain, originally erected in 1919 outside the Onehunga Presbyterian Church.
Souces: ‘Onehunga’s Flag Ceremony’, Auckland Star, 14/6/1900, p. 2; ‘Local and General News’, NZ Herald, 18/7/1900, p. 4.
Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2015