This RSA Memorial Cross was erected by the Manaia returned soldiers and officially unveiled on the afternoon of Anzac Day, 1924. The Rev. C. Roberts addressed the crowd before Mrs J. Meuli (senr.) unveiled the memorial cross. It was described as follows, "the design is a Graves Commission Cross on a massive concrete foundation, the whole surrounded by a concrete enclosure". At the time it was located in Manaia's public cemetery, however following WW II the RSA established a Servicemen's section and it the memorial was then moved.
The Servicemen's area of Manaia Cemetery on Cemetery Road has, as well as the RSA Memorial Cross, the WE & J Corkill Memorial Lichgate and the Pierce Terance Joyce (1930-2001) Memorial Flagpole. Joyce was an Otakeho farmer and the first Mayor of the South Taranaki District, 1989-1992.
Source: John C. Hosie, Centennial History of Manaia and Manaia School 1882-1982, pp.72-73.
Related item:
A Solid and Handsome Piece of Work, Stratford Evening Post, 19 April 1924.
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