Tākaka Pioneers' Memorial

Tākaka, Italy

The Tākaka Pioneers' Memorial is a monument in Tākaka, New Zealand, commemorating 69 early European settlers in the wider area. John Langridge had the idea for the memorial, and was the leading force behind it, probably inspired by a similar memorial from 1897 in his home town Temuka. A memorial com

mittee progressed the idea from May 1906 onwards. The patriarchs of settler families who were in the area by the mid-1860s were eligible to be listed for a subscription. No women are listed, as per the custom of the time, and those who did not pay are also missing. The naming of individual pioneers is an uncommon feature. The original placement of the memorial opposite to the Telegraph Hotel is believed to have provided Tākaka's first street light through a gas lamp mounted at the top of the memorial. The top of the memorial has changed numerous times mostly due to vandalism; the original ornate gas lamp was replaced by an ornate globe, later replaced with a town clock, an ornate lamp based on the original, and then a plain globe. For many years, the top of the monument has been left empty. Including the lamp, the memorial is 5.8 m (19 ft) high. The memorial used to have a water trough which...

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