Location: Waimataitai School, 25 Trafalgar Street
Access: School grounds, view only with school permission
Associated years: 1915, 1917, 1922
Associated people/groups: 47 ex-pupils named on the plaque, including names such as Hawkes, Hay, Keen, Watson and Tennant
The Waimataitai School memorial is one of the most moving places because it uses the phrase ex-pupils. A concrete and stone plaque at the school records 47 ex-pupils who gave their lives in the Great War.
NZ History records the Waimataitai primary school war memorial in Timaru, and South Canterbury Museum SCRoll profiles connect several named men to the memorial.
Earlier SCRoll material records that by April 1917, 140 old Waimataitai pupils were on the school Roll of Honour and 21 had already died.
The memorial was unveiled on 31 January 1922, with “The Last Post” and the National Anthem. This stop should emphasise children and families. These men were once schoolchildren in Timaru before they became soldiers in a world war.
Find a WuHoo: Why does the plaque say “ex-pupils” rather than only “soldiers”?