The New Zealand War Memorial is in honour of the war dead of New Zealand in the First and Second World wars. Officially named "Southern Stand", the memorial was designed by architect John Hardwick-Smith and sculptor Paul Dibble both from New Zealand. Fran Dibble (Paul's wife) was also involved and is a well known NZ artist and sculpture in her own right.
It was unveiled on 11th November 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II. In attendance was NZ Prime Minister, Helen Clark and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The ceremony included Hayley Westenra, singing God Save the Queen and God defend New Zealand, the national anthems of the UK and NZ. Ngāti Rānsna sang a Māori song, "Po Atarau", and a haka was performed. A RNZAF Boeing 757 did a flypast.
The memorial has 16 bronze "standards" cross-shaped metal girder each weighing about 700 kilograms cast in Lower Hutt. The surfaces are adorned with different texts, patterns and small sculptures, all symbolic of New Zealand including plants and animals from New Zealand.
Nine of the standards form a grid pattern, with a tenth as a leader. The other six stand to the side in the shape of the Southern Cross and bear LED lights that are illuminated at night.
To claim this virtual
1. "send answers" to the following question - Find the list of names of contributors to this project on the most easternly standard. That's up the slope towards the back of the memorial. What's the third name on the list starting at the top? (Not Auckland or Hamilton. A different list)
2. When logging your find include a photo of yourself, or your geocaching name at GZ. We would love to hear if you have any connection with New Zealand.
You can log your find immediately, however, if there is any issue we will contact you.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.