Hope Gibbons, the mayor of Whanganui, places soil from the battlefields of Belgium in a memorial to Māori soldiers killed in the First World War, on 20 May 1925. Each of the four posts of the memorial bore the name of a place where Māori had fought. Soil from each of these locations was placed in the appropriate post. In all the Māori Contingent lost 336 men killed on active service, and over 700 were wounded. A number of the veterans who returned later died as a result of injuries or illness contracted during their war service.
Using this item
Alexander Turnbull Library, Tesla Studios Collection (PAColl-3046)
Reference: 1/1-017366-G
by Frank J. Denton
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.