Inside display.
Inside the hall a display table was set up underneath the permanently displayed Rolls of Honour plus the Komakorau one, on loan from that community hall, which now resides in the grounds of the Gordonton Primary School. Being shifted after the Komakorau Primary School was amalgamated with Gordonton.
On the opposing side I set up a display table, and two display boards as part of our Adopt an ANZAC project. 20 pages about the RIDDELL Brothers and H. C. WELCH, and 17 pages for this years Adoptee, Paritawa [sic] TEWAI. Good interest was shown, and I now have next years adoptee in mind, as I was told about brothers, not all of whom returned, and of the existence of a diary, that made it back.
Several people approached me about what they believed were errors with the names so recorded, or inconsistencies between the inside rolls, and those names, as inscribed, on the Obelisk. Some were quite assertive that changes should be made to the Obelisk/Cenotaph before we celebrate its 100th anniversary October 16, 2018.
Herein lies a dilemma for the Gordonton Community Committee, an advisory committee under the patronage of the Waikato District Council. Glad I’m not on it.
You see, today’s deemed ‘best practise’ with inscriptions on graves and monuments is a minimalistic one, of doing as little as possible to alter them. Render them safe, but don’t water-blast them with gusto, and thereby hasten natural erosion, especially on the likes of concrete and sand stone. Go very softly softly with physical and chemical removal of vegetation. And where it is seen fit to draw attention to inscription errors [that can be proven beyond doubt] do so by adding supplementary engraved stone or plate etc, noting errata’s.
Aside from human engraving errors, there are numerous other reasons why what is in print is not quite how you, or your family would expect it to be. Dad registered the kids name, and did not spell it the way mum expected, it was going to be done. Family used one way, public records showed another.
One family in this community found themselves being told it would be easier to deed poll change the spelling of their name, than it would be to change the incorrect spelling of their family name, that got past the final reading on an act of the NZ Parliament, assigning them a new parcel of land, as compensation for a crown title, in dispute with other parties.
Underage brothers were known to have gone to WWI using their older brother’s birth certificate, leaving no end of trouble for their officially ‘dead’ brother back in NZ. In some cases past the day they naturally died affecting probate and life insurance issues. Trying to “correct” especially Commonwealth War Graves inscriptions can be a very big mission, and some Mothers died before the next generation succeeded in getting a change made.
In the Gordonton Cenotaph’s case the Obelisk, as the erecting committee referred to it, was unveiled before wars end, and the detailed report in the Waikato Times noted that, “other men have left the district and their names will be added as soon as possible.” It also notes that, “a parchment was laid in the foundation stone with details of the subscribers and the committee.”
In light of the fact that there are still residents in their 90’s who delight in recalling that some families were despised because they chose not to have any thing to do with the project, ‘in case the country was over run by the enemy’ the above suggests to me that family consent was first obtained before names were engraved, and as it appears that a few inscribed names were not included in that Waikato Times article, opportunity presumably was there for families ‘of that time’ to have sought redress.
Therefore to my mind arises the question of “who are we to be making changes now, nearly 100 years later.?”
Much food for thought for the Gordonton Community.
- Alan.
PS EDIT: Afraid I'm a skip reader so spelling, and proof reading my own copy, is not my strong point. However after futher research today, I believe the two brother's named as WALSH on the Cenotaph, should have been named as WELCH. That is how their family name appears on the Primary school roll, their Army records, and the Waikato Times reporting upon the unveiling. Though why it was not changed when more WWI names were added, a little time later, I do not know. - Alan.
