Memorial Clock Tower - Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand
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denben
S 42° 43.090 E 170° 57.824
59G E 497030 N 5270480
The Memorial Clock Tower is located at the intersection of Sewell and Weld Streets in Hokitika, West Coast Region.
Waymark Code: WMN94R
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 01/22/2015
Views: 9
A well known landmark in Hokitika is the clock tower erected to mark the coronation of Edward VII and to honour the memory of soldiers who were killed in the Boer War (1899-1902).
The Second Boer War was the first time that Australian and New Zealand troops had fought abroad. Sixty-two percent of the first contingent were New Zealand-born. They were known as the New Zealand mounted rifles and they wore a fern leaf symbol.
The South African (Boer) War and Coronation Memorial Clock Tower was unveiled by Mrs Seddon, the Premier’s wife, in Hokitika, on 3 June 1903, in front of her husband, General Babington and his staff, and the West Coast Battalion of Volunteers, Cadets and returned troopers.
Over three thousand visitors arrived by train to hear speeches by Premier Richard John Seddon, Mayor, Mr Guinness, the Member for Grey, the Hon. Holmes, and General Babington.
The clock tower commemorated the coronation of Edward VII, the dispatch of 130 Westland men to South Africa, and four troopers who lost their lives in the war.
The foundation stone was laid in February 1902 before a crowd of two thousand, in pelting rain by Premier Seddon, who performed a full Masonic ceremony as the 'Acting Grand Master representing the New Zealand Grand Lodge.'
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