On the right hand side of the original Soliders’ area is a magnificent Kauri with a bronze plaque underneath which reads:
“Memorial Kauri Planted By Sir James Allen G.C.M.G, Armistice Day 1926, erected by W.N.R”.
Sir James addressed the crowd and said that the tree he had planted was a very small one, but as the years went by it would grow, a great kauri, symbolic of the strength, stability, and grandeur of the services of those men and nurses who gave up their lives for their country.Sir James was a prominent New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was New Zealand’s Minister of Defence during World War I and had visited all war grave cemeteries in New Zealand. We’re fortunate to have a photo from the occasion, as recorded in the Evening Post, and to see the size of the young Kauri that was planted on that day and is now nearly 100 years old.
