209 Trentham Memorial Park Upper Hutt, Brentwood Street entrance to the beautiful park
Reason for the name
This Trentham Upper Hutt Park was named as a War Memorial Park post World War 2. This park pays tribute to all who served from the area and as a poppy place recognition is also paid to the Soldiers Pool that once existed in the Hutt River opposite the western edge of the Park.
After WW2, the UH County Council, the UH Borough Council and the Patriotic Fund worked together to fund and acquire additional land from the Barton family to extend the existing recreational park. It was from this that the park was formally named the Trentham Memorial Park. In 1957 the local Jaycees built a set of memorial walls and gates in the park opposite Totara Street. Affixed to the walls were a WW1 and a WW2 bronze plaque. In the 1985 the walls were demolished and the gates were refurbished and later incorporated within the new fences and gates at the Brentwood Street park entrance. The bronze plaques were then included affixed to the flag pole plinth of the Memorial Swimming Baths within Maidstone Park.
The Soldiers pool was adjacent to the park in the Hutt River. There were a few cold showers available for the soldiers within the camp however the men paraded at the Hutt River once or twice a week to bathe. This bathing location was normally at a river bank site by the forest at Barton’s Bush and became known as Soldiers Pool. This pool was used in both World Wars and was also used by the horses from the Remount Depot
Author: Wayne Myers UH RSA and The Poppy Places Trust
Historical aspects of the Park include early Maori settlement and European settlement in the 1800s. See the gallery for some notes on the history of the park.
During Project R3, the President of the UH RSA, Mr Syd Giles approached me to say that in their storage container was an aluminium plaque that previously hung on the wall behind the stage in the old King Street clubrooms, and would I have any ideas on how best to utilise this. After pondering on the matter, I formulated a concept to refurbish and mount the plaque on a plain concrete plinth and locate it within the Trentham Memorial Park as a symbol of recognition to the memorial aspect of the park. Thus, a stage two to Project R3 was created.
The aluminium plaque physically consists of four inter locking pieces, approximately 1200mm by 1200mm in dimension. The UH RSA has no record as to where or when it was acquired or as to who manufactured it. Therefore my interpretation of the subject matter is that it depicts military service, remembrance and the future. At top left are the NZ flag and the British Union Jack, representative of NZ and of being part of the British Empire/Commonwealth. Below the flags is a battleship, representative of those who had served in the Royal NZ Navy, at the far lower right is an Army tank, representative of those who had served in the NZ Army and above it is a bomber, representative of those who had served in the Royal NZ Air Force. At the lower left are three crosses, representative of those who had served and who had paid the ultimate sacrifice. In the centre is a laurel wreath that signifies a victory won, and radiating out from it are rays of light, representative of reaching out to a brighter future.
The location of the memorial within the park is significant, in that it is directly across the road from Camp Street, which leads up to and from the old main entrance to Trentham Military Camp. It was along this route that the troops, some with their horses, would egress when transiting to and from the Soldier’s Pool area of the Hutt (Heretaunga) River, for both training and recreation.
The memorial was unveiled and dedicated at a ceremony on the 23rd February, 2011. UH Mayor, Wayne Guppy formally unveiled the memorial and spoke of the importance of creating and maintaining such memorials within the community and NZ. The Commanding Officer of Trentham Area, Lt Col Richard Weston spoke in regard to the history and significance of the camp within the Upper Hutt community and its connection with the park, before Naval Chaplain, Jen Betham-Lang formally blessed the memorial and paid respect to the memory of all service men and women.
The Soldiers Pool became a location not only where the men could wash and do some elementary washing of clothes, but it became an area of bathing and relaxation. The bathing parades were described in the newspaper Auckland Star as follows:
Shortly before three o’clock the men are marched to their various hutments where they discard their rifles and accoutrements and take up their towels. The platoons are mustered into their company and usually a drummer marches in the lead with a side drum to set the step. The bathing place is more than a mile away, across the railway and the main north road. The river is rather narrow in its shingle bed, for on the opposite side the hills rise almost precipitously with bush, broom and fern growing in profusion to the highest ridge. For a time the stillness is remarkable. The bank of the river is soon a scene of animation. Most of the men are out of their clothes and into the water in a brace of shakes; others are slower and do not bath at all, they do a little washing instead, this being allowed as long as the men are not palpably shirking the dip. Even so many of the “washers” are chaffed and some hurry through the work and have time for a hasty dip before the company resumes its clothes and set off again for the camp. There is a great commotion near a rock which overlooks a deep pool. This is a favourite diving place.
This pool had other uses. Due to the easy access the Mounted Rifles and Camp domestic horses were often watered at this location and the Army Field Engineers practiced the construction of improvised bridges. The pool was also used in WW2.
