AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 56, 29 November 1929, Page 10

AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL

MUSEUM officially opened by governor-general CONSECRATION OF CENOTAPH Dominion Special Service. Auckland, November 28. The Auckland War Memorial Museum. standing on Observatory Hill in the Domain, which has taken five years to build, and for which £238,000 was subscribed, was opened with impressive ceremonial by the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergussou, this afternoon. Mr. A. S. Bankart, chairman of the Citizens’ Committee, reviewed the history of the memorial, and called upon Archbishop Averill to consecrate to the memory of the glorious dead the Cenotaph erected in the Court of Honour in front th<? bidding. The Archbishop’s eloquent dedicatory prayer was followed by trumpeters sounding the “Last Post.” Kipling’s “Recessional” was sung, and the ceremony of consecration concluded with the Reveille. At the request of Mr. Bankart, the Governor-General then presented the Cenotaph and Court of Honour to the Mayor (Mr. G. S. Baildon) on behalf of the citizens. A Glorious Memory. In doing this, the Governor-General said that above the doorway of the museum would be seen the words of the great Athenian statesman Pericles. The whole tenor of his speech was that we should not grieve too much for those who had died for their country, but rather that our eyes should turn to the glory which surrounded their memory. He had said it was easy ro talk of brave fighting, but he would rather that his hearers should fix their eyes day by day upon the greatness of their country and reflect that the Empire had been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, fearing dishonour and being willing always .to give their lives for their country. To-day’s function, said His Excellency, was similar in its circumstances. The Cenotaph did not represent the graves of the fallen, but rather the glory of what survived them. It reminded us th.it these men knew their duty and had courage to do it—surely the noblest of all attributes. It depended on how each one of us responded to the call of duty. Dedication to Duty. As to the answer to the question, “Were these lives wasted —did they die in vain?” the lives would have been wasted, he said, if we to-day did not dedicate our lives to duty and to our country. Then came the ceremony of handing over the building itself to Auckland, the institute and museum president, Mr. H. E. Vaile, accepting it from the Governor-General. His Excellency made another impressive speech, and opened the museum by knocking on the door with a carved mere, which was presented to him in a totara box carved in Maori style. The ceremony concluded with the National Anthem. To-night masses of wreaths were placed on the Cenotaph by ex-soldiers and nurses, Territorials, Cadets, and others.

To-morrow the Maori ceremony of dedicating the ancestral meeting-house of the Hauraki tribes, named Hotunui, takes place. The Auckland Electric Power Board has decided to present, a flood-lighting system to illuminate the museum by night.