Te Rau Aroha A Company Maori Battalion Museum

 Yesterday morning we set off north to Paihia, 70 kms. away.  Doug's eldest daughter came as well and was our driver.  

Showers had been forecast but they held off until we were returning home. It was a pleasant drive and sixteen family members met for the ceremony to have Doug's Uncle Lockie's photo installed on the wall of Remembrance.  The ceremony was set to start at 12.30 and there was a lot of catching up with family members who had not met for some time. 

As with all Maori ceremonies there was a lot of singing and a lot of talking or korero.

Doug was the only family member who could actually remember Lockie.  He remembers standing between his legs as a young child with Lockie playfully hitting him on his head with a rolled up newspaper.  He can also remember when he was about five years old his father going to work and telling him to be good for his mother that particular day as she had just heard that her brother had been killed.  

We were extremely pleased we attended.  We had been to the Museum a few years ago and wondered why Lockie's photo was not on the wall.  (Apparently it was because he was with another Battalion to start with and something went amiss with the records).  

In the background nearly 600 white crosses on the Field of Remembrance for the soldiers of 28th Maori Battalion who were killed in action and buried overseas.

Lockie's photo on the Wall of Remembrance where it belongs.

Doug beside the photo

Part of the Wall.

After the Ceremony we went to the Cafe at the Copthorne Hotel, Waitangi for a late lunch and then the drive home.  It was a lovely day but this morning we were both pleased that we didn't need to get up at Sparrowfart to go to the Market.