Years of Planning for Memorial

Te Ao Hou, June 1964, Page 32

Years of Planning for Memorial Since the war the battalion has maintained strong ties with the city, and even before the war was over the idea of building a war memorial at Palmerston North was being considered. After the war the planning of the memorial and the organisation of fund-raising activities were taken over by the Raukawa tribal executive (now the Raukawa Maori Executive Committee), in whose district Palmerston North belongs. Assisted by contributions from the 28th Maori Battalion National Association, and with the aid of the local branch of the Maori Women's Welfare League and local Pakeha organisations, the executive set about raising money for a substantial building which would be a memorial to the battalion, a centre at which visitors from all over the country could be welcomed, and a valuable social and cultural asset for both Maori and Pakeha in the district. In 1954 the Raukawa tribal executive commissioned the Maori architect John Scott of Hastings to prepare plans for a three-storey community centre which would cost about £24,000. One of the requirements was that the building should be a harmonious combination of Maori and Pakeha architectural traditions.