By Geoff Kreegher (Hamilton Ratepayer)

Menin Gate, Ieper, Belgium. Photo credit Johan Bakker Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Hamilton City’s Mayor Paula Southgate is travelling to the Belgium town of Ieper (Ypres) for Anzac Day with Māngai Māori leader Olly Te Ua. The trip was estimated to cost ratepayers $10,000 and will “allow them to honour the fallen on behalf of the City” according to RNZ. The visit is to feature both Council officials reading the ‘Ode of Remembrance’ at the Menin Gate.

According to the Hamilton City Council website:

“Hamilton’s relationship with Ieper was formalised in February 2013…

Ieper was a strategic landmark for the British army in World War I as it blocked the German army’s route along the Belgian and French coast.

The city of Ieper showed care to New Zealand soldiers during this time, and a strong connection between Hamilton and Ypres began.

In 2014, Hamilton’s Ieper Memorial Garden in Memorial Park was built to acknowledge those who fought and died in World War I.”

RNZ quoted Mayor Paula Southgate justifying this April 2024 trip:

“This visit has been planned for some time and is about remembering and paying our respects to those who paid the ultimate price for peace, including our fallen Anzac soldiers, and thanking Ieper for honouring and remembering more than 4600 of our Anzac servicemen who are buried in around 80 cemeteries in Belgium.”

According to the New Zealand War Graves project “The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which covers the area known as the Ypres”. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, it is dedicated to those of every Commonwealth nationality, except New Zealanders, who died in and around the Ypres Salient in Belgium.

Nearly 55,000 names of soldiers without known graves are inscribed on the Menin Gate memorial’s name panels. There are few New Zealand names inscribed on these panels because this is not where they fell. The New Zealand Government wanted the NZ fallen to be honoured where they lay. It would be more appropriate for the Mayor to honour New Zealand’s WWI casualties at the Tyne Cot Memorial closer to Passchendaele.

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial, Belgium. Photo credit Johan S Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

“The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations, except New Zealand, who died in the Salient.

All New Zealand casualties are commemorated at the New Zealand Apse of the Tyne Cot Memorial and on The New Zealand Memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.”
New Zealand War Graves Project, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial 

The Menin Gate is specifically not the site to commemorate New Zealand’s casualties in this region, as reiterated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

“Men from the forces of Australia, India, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom are commemorated by the Menin Gate. These men came from more than 20 different nations to serve.

Although troops from New Zealand fought across the Ypres battlefields, the government of New Zealand elected to commemorate its missing on memorials in cemeteries near where they died.”

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Why and How we’re restoring the Menin Gate

This begs the question, why are The Mayor and Olly Te Ua specifically honouring The Menin Gate Memorial when it is not the memorial for commemorating New Zealanders?

Why are they spending ratepayer money in the midst of Hamilton City’s biggest rates rise on such a trip?

 

 

Reply from the Mayoral Office Press Secretary

25 April 2024

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your article.

I wish to provide some clarity on the Mayor’s Anzac Day trip to Ieper.

You have focused on the Mayor’s attendance at Menin Gate, however, during their visit, Mayor Paula and Lieutenant Colonel, Olly Te Ua, will also pay their respects to our fallen and represent Hamilton City at the suite of ANZAC day commemorations in Belgium. This includes:

24 April:

  • Mayor Paula has been invited to read the ode of remembrance in English and Te Reo at the Menin Gate, at a special ANZAC Last Post Ceremony, in honour of our fallen servicemen.

25 April:

  • Dawn Ceremony at Buttes New British Cemetery Zonnebeke
  • Wreath laying at the Pou Maumahara, MMP1917, Zonnebeke
  • Commemorative Ceremony at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke
  • Special Anzac Last Post at the Menin Gate (Ieper/Ypres)
  • Commemorative Ceremony at the New Zealand Battlefield Memorial, Messines

They will also walk the battles of the Waikato Division and place poppies on the graves of Hamiltonians buried in cemeteries across the region.

Mayor Paula’s trip is about honouring and remembering our fallen ANZACs, including many from Hamilton and the Waikato region, as well as strengthening the remarkable connection between our two friendship cities; forged by shared history and values, resilience, and the enduring spirit of remembrance.

In particular, it is an opportunity to thank the people of Flanders and Belgium for their enduring service to our nation and city. For over 100 years, they have devotedly tendered to the graves of more than 4,600 of our ANZAC servicemen, and honoured them every night at the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony.

On Anzac Day, Mayor Paula will also unveil two magnificent entranceway panels for Ieper’s Hamilton Park, in recognition of the friendship between Ieper and Hamilton, and to thank the people of Ieper and Flanders for their compassionate care and commitment to our fallen. The panels have been generously made and donated by Longveld and freighted by Porter Group, with no cost to Council.

While there, Mayor Paula will also meet with Ieper’s Mayor and local government to discuss how we can further strengthen our ties in mutually beneficial ways. Previous Hamilton Mayors have visited Ieper to pay our respects. However, the Covid-pandemic has made it harder for us to meet recently, and further this relationship until now.

More background on our relationship has recently been updated on our website here: https://hamilton.govt.nz/your-council/about-council/our-partners/international-relationships/ieper-belgium/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3Du9yVDrYJBeYAyXXhoCw-kTEi-vth_OlrP5mUhWuQrr2bpU1a2LnNMf0_aem_AVeL5bSQtOt1VuZuWPa-CTxrkk3WNcl8fDkOwv8p6orwoxakkCBGcX8hORuwpIB_szbXBMGWQovlaJH4IFmJa6V0

I would also note, for total clarity, the Mayor’s travel will cost up to $4000. $2000 of this has generously been funded by the Hamilton Ieper Project Trust. The Mayor does not intend to spend the full allocation and is committed to minimise costs, for example she has selected the cheapest economy flight out of three airline quotes (less than that allocated), and is self-funding travel insurance, meals and train travel.

In response to your question at the end. We would say, in times of global uncertainty, it is even more important to remember the lessons of war, strengthen international unity, and pass on the value of peace to the next generation. This is about us playing our part in telling that story.

 

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