Otago Sculpture Trust

In Site Library - Greater Dunedin: Zealandia (Palmerston) (1902)

InSite

Palmerston Fallen Soldier's Memorial¼. Railway Station Palmerston¼¼ Carlo Bergamini, sculptor.

Palmerston Fallen Soldier's Memorial to the men of the Waihemo district who died during the South African Wars of 1899 -1902, is adorned with the figure of a graceful young woman. This is Zealandia, a nineteenth century personification of New Zealand. If the figure looks somewhat like a graveyard angel this is not surprising since the artist, Carlo Bergamini, was a partner with his father-in-law, Peter Reid, in the firm of monumental masons Bergamini and Reid. Despite the wreath in her left hand, however, the angel is less a figure of mourning than of triumph. She has a star on her forehead, her right hand is raised high and she looks solemnly up to the heavens rather than bowing her head in mourning. When the Mayoress, Mrs Gow, pulled the cord to reveal the monument there was approval for the grace and beauty of the figure. In fact, Zealandia, like all of Carlo Bergamini's designs, was carved from marble at the family firm in Carrara in Italy.

Forty-seven men from Waihemo went overseas. Five died and they are commemorated on panels on the monument. At the unveiling, in June 1903, there was as much a sense of satisfaction of a job undertaken and completed satisfactorily as dismay at the loss of local men in battle. In a speech, the Mayor, Mr. J.C. Gow, noted with some pride that the Waihemo region had provided volunteers for every one of the ten contingents that had left New Zealand to fight under the British flag in South Africa. The unveiling of the monument, he said, was the last duty of the community, now that the protracted struggle was over, and peace reigned supreme over the battlefields.

The memorial was placed in a most public place, outside the railway station, and was surrounded by a fine iron railing with a gate through which passers-by could approach the drinking well to refresh themselves. The railing is gone and the station is now a café and restaurant for passing motorists. Passenger trains no longer serve the South.

The military nature of the memorial is signified by the crossed rifles and bandoliers which are superimposed on the fluted columns at the four corners of the pedestal. Below, on the front, an Imperial lion is shown in high relief over a carved bowl for the drinking fountain. The base was made from local material, Port Chalmers bluestone.

That this was the first Boer War memorial in the Otago region was another reason for local pride. It was paid for through shilling subscriptions, fund-raising concerts and council grants. Bergamini and Reid went on to erect memorials in Waimate (where the Zealandia figure is again employed), Riverton, Oamaru and Dunedin

Richard Dingwall

Text Copyright Richard Dingwall