Hastings District Council have been custodians of the Regimental Guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles since 1959. Through a rare decision the Officers of the Wellington East Coast Regiment (City of Hastings Own) R.N.Z.A.C. presented their Regimental Guidon to the Mayor for safe-keeping and public display in the Council Chambers.
A unique tradition of ‘handover ceremonies’ have taken place whenever the Guidon has been retrieved and returned by the Armoured Corps, where the Guidon is marched into the Council building and presented to the Mayor, with a handover of keys for its encasement. The tradition has been maintained as a unique Civic Ceremony officiated by the Mayor and Commanding Officer of the Regiment.
The Guidon was retrieved by Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles on Armistice Day 11 November 2021 and placed in the Officer’s Mess at Linton Camp. In July 2024 the Guidon underwent conservation work with the Carmelite Sisters of Christ The King Monastery in Christchurch. The specialised work included immediate repairs and stabilisation of the delicate fabrics. The Guidon was then returned to the Council Chamber on 8 August.
The origin of carrying Colours goes back to the days of early warriors, who fixed their family badges to poles and held them aloft in battle for the dual purpose of indicating their position and to act as rallying points should the occasion arise. Medieval chivalry followed the same principle when armorial bearings were placed on their banners so that these could be seen well above the melee.
Guidons have evolved from the banners of the knights of the Middle Ages. The Guidon (an ensign or standard ending with a tail, point, or swallow tail) was carried by a banneret. When the banneret was created a knight, the end of his Guidon was cut off, transforming it into a Standard.
Initially The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments were not authorised to carry a Standard of any kind, with the result that it was necessary to request permission from the Imperial authorities. In 1927 the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments received permission from King George V to carry Guidons.
The Guidon was presented to the Regiment during a unit camp at Marewa, Napier on 12th May 1935. The Guidon was designed, paid for, and presented by Major General Sir Andrew Russell, the former Commanding Officer of both the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, the Brigade Commander of the Mounted Rifles Brigade at Gallipoli and the General Officer Commanding the 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force in France 1916−1918.
The Guidon is unique for its distinct New Zealand design and incorporation of the regional black and white of Hawke’s Bay. The Guidon is made of black and white silk damask embroidered and fringed with gold. The tassels and cord of crimson and gold mixed. The sleeve at the pole end is crimson silk.
The Guidon is divided horizontally into five white and four black bands. In the centre is the badge of the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in gold, surrounded by a wreath of green New Zealand ferns. The whole centrepiece is surmounted by the Kings Crown in full colour. The Regimental Badge is of a horse rampant surmounting the Regimental Motto “FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT” Fortune Favours The Brave.
The battle honours of the unit are emblazoned on both sides of the Guidon with black lettering on gold scrolls, and placed in sequence from left to right down the Guidon. A gold scroll with Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in black is at the base of the Guidon.
The following battle honours and campaigns are emblazoned on the Guidon:
SOUTH AFRICA 1900-1902
HILL 60 (ANZAC)
RUMANI
EGYPT 1915-1917
JAFFA
PALESTINE 1917-1918
JORDAN (AMMAN)
GAZA BEERSHEEBA
MAGHDABA RAFFA
SARI BAIR
DEFENCE OF ANZAC
Further sources
'Military Pageant | Presentation of Colours | Impressive Ceremony', New Zealand Herald, 15 May 1935: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19350515.2.160
Images and text: Charlie Ropitini, 2024