The Rawhitiroa Memorial Pool is an example of a community working together to create a facility that not only serves to remember those who served their country, but over 60 years later is still used by large numbers of bathers each summer.
The first meeting of the committee that initiated the project was on 15 July 1947. It would be seven years of planning before work began on the ambitious project. The key to its success, and the reason the pool was larger than first planned, was the decision that the community would do all the work.
Wells were dug, the site was levelled and excavated, boxing put in place, concrete poured, sheds and a shop erected. All this was completed by locals contributing their time, energy and resources to create a superb community asset.
In December 1955 the pool was ready for use, just 19 months after work began. The official opening was delayed until 30 January 1960, when the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W.T. Anderton arrived to complete the formalities.
Over the years additions have been made to the pool complex including a diving board, barbecues, solar panels and another building.
In 2021 the Rawhitiroa Women's Institute placed a plaque at the entrance gates to the pool and this was unveiled on ANZAC Day that year. In 2023 a more elaborate memorial was unveiled at the entrance gates - it included a landscaped garden and an "ANZAC wall' with a new Memorial Plaque for the servicemen, as well as plaques recognising the Women's Institute and the funder of the project, Patrick L. McLaughlin.
In 2023, Nelson Every published a book detailing the history of pool from the formation of the War Memorial Baths Committe in 1947 up until the installation of the new memorial at the entrance gates. (Rawhitiroa Memorial Pool, Nelson Every TRCT 993.482 EVE).
1914 - 1918 1939 - 1945
C.A. Belcher L.J. Bootten
L.F. Belcher C.E. Cave
C. Bentley N.F. Cave
H.P. Bull * D.F. Charteris
W. Burton J.A. Charteris
J.S. Cameron P.R. Edwards
J. Eggers * C. Ford
* A.F. Hodson R.J. May
* H.F. Hodson W.R. Morgan
A. Jagger E.F. O’Connor
* C.C. Kelland L.M. O’Connor
B.A. Martin A.J. Ryburn
* H. McCarthy W.J.D. Robertson
* E. McLaughlin C.D. Silver
H. McLaughlin D.H. Tarrant
A. Parkinson P.M. Tarrant
* H. Robinson W.G. Tarrant
W.H. Slater E. Walke
J. Walsh * H.W.C. Wood
* J.J. McLaughlin P. Wright
Vietnam Campaign (not on plaque)
* A. Don
* These Men Made the Supreme Sacrifice
Related documents:
Memorial Pool (New Plymouth Photo News #1 21 Feb 1957)
Pool Opens (New Plymouth Photo News 18 March 1960
A memorial swimming pool that united a district (Taranaki Herald 6 August 1960)
Pool stands as monument to community spirit (Daily News 9 Jan 1986)
The Rawhitiroa War Memorial Pool, Pat O'Connor (Rawhitiroa/Mangamingi Centenary 1998)
Historic event for Rawhitiroa (Opunake & Coastal News 4 May 2023)
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