002 Messines Ave Upper Hutt, Messines Avenue entrance to Trentham Camp 2017.
Reason for the name
Formerly known as Messines Road, this roadway was originally part of Trentham Military Camp. In line with Trentham Camp tradition to name streets in honour of New Zealand military service overseas it was named after the Battle of Messines, a First World War engagement in which New Zealand troops played a prominent role.
When barracks were first constructed at Trentham Camp in 1915 several roads were also built between and around the rows of hutments. These roads were all given names that memorialized the actions of New Zealand troops then serving in the conflict overseas. Messines Road was not one of these streets and photographs of the Camp during the First World War do not show any roadway in the position it was later to occupy (see Figure 1). There is also little sign of its being in existence in the 1920s or early 1930s. Neither a 1929 Lands and Survey map of the Trentham area1 nor a 1932 map of the Camp that hung for many years in Trentham Camp Headquarters2 identify a street of this name (although possibly a route of some kind began to come into use in this area during this time).
The first firm evidence of the existence of Messines Road occurs during the 1940s. With the outbreak of the Second World War the Army Council authorized an extensive redevelopment of the Camp. From 1939-1940 construction work was undertaken by the Public Works Department along with private contractors. 70,200 square metres of new buildings were erected and around £55,000 spent on roading, drainage, and other anciliary services.3 It seems likely Messines Road was either created or at least consolidated as part of these developments. Aerial photographs from the late 1940s clearly indicate a road in this location (see Figure 2) and a blueprint of the area, circa 1944, held by Trentham Military Camp’s Facilities Management Section, confirms that this thoroughfare was known as Messines Road4.
While no documentation of the decision-making process surrounding the naming of Messines Road has yet been uncovered it is clear that this would have drawn on the precedents established when Trentham Camp was first built. Correspondence and other documents from later decades relating to roading in this area indicate a general understanding of a strong tradition being in place to name streets in the area in honour of people and places associated with the New Zealand Military.5 In the late 1930s/early 1940s this would have been even more specifically understood as giving streets names that reflected the importance of Trentham Camp during the First World War. The 1917 Battle of Messines, in which New Zealand forces played a prominent role and in which Trentham-trained troops participated, would have been an obvious candidate in this regards.
While the character of the Trentham Camp area underwent many changes in the immediate post-Second World War period, Messines Road remained in place. As late as 1981 a map of Trentham in that year’s edition of Wise’s Directory shows Messines Road still running in a straight line from the railway track, along the perimeter of the original Camp barracks area, down as far as Freyberg Road (see Figure 3). However, in the subsequent decade this area was extensively redeveloped as part of a reduction in size of Trentham Camp. Many of the existing streets disappeared and others were significantly re-structured. As part of these alterations Messines Road was realigned to connect with Sutherland Avenue and, in order to compensate for the closure of public access to Camp Road, it was extended down past Freyberg Road to connect with Alexander Road. In recognition of the substantial character of these changes and its new status as an arterial route, Messines Road’s name was also changed to Messines Avenue.
Author: Reid Perkins Archivist UHCC reid.perkins@UHCC.govt.nz
About the Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines took place on the Western Front between the 7th to the 14th of June 1917. It was a preliminary event to the larger and better known Battle of Passchendaele, both of which were part of the Third Ypres Offensive. Messines was a village in Belgium that was occupied by the Germans. It was situated on a ridge that was regarded as strategically significant. The Allies were planning a major offensive that was ultimately intended to enable their forces to sweep through to the Belgian coast and the German U-boat bases stationed there. Before this offensive could get underway it was necessary to clear the Germans from Messines Ridge; otherwise they would have a clear view of the preparations. The 2nd and the 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigades were amongst those earmarked for this task. The attack was meticulously well-planned with New Zealand troops training for weeks beforehand on a replica of the Messines terrain. Tunnels had also been dug under the German lines and packed with explosives. The simultaneous detonation of these mines at 3:10am on the morning of June 7th caused enormous destruction along the German line. This was also the signal for the attack, with the New Zealanders advancing quickly from their trenches towards the ridge. By 7:00am they had taken Messines. Their casualties were low at this point in the battle but the ensuing heavy bombardment from the Germans led to significant losses. When the New Zealanders were eventually relieved from Messines two days later they had suffered 3700 casualties, including 700 dead. This toll and the relative success of the attack were to be subsequently overshadowed by the horror of Passchendaele in which more New Zealanders died than at any other event since the founding of the country.
A high proportion of the New Zealand troops who fought at Messines would have received at least some of their training at Trentham, establishing a local connection between that battle and the Upper Hutt region.
