Alamein Street Kaponga)

Alamein Street is located on the southern outskirts of Kaponga. It appears on early survey maps of the district simply labelled as “Road”. Later, once the town’s cemetery had been sited at the end of the street it became known as Cemetery Road.

In 1914 the road was described as “still poorly developed” with drainage difficulties making it impassable and access to the cemetery only possible by way of a private property. However, by the mid-1930s the road had been metalled, electricity was available and the Town Board had approved an application from local butcher John Fary to build an abattoir there.

The next step in the development of the formerly troublesome road was a name change. It is unclear exactly when this occurred, however it seems likely to have been in the late 1950s when the names of several Kaponga streets were changed.

Cemetery Road became Alamein Street, at first glance an unusual choice for a town in South Taranaki, but one that appears to be linked to the presence of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt during the Second World War. In September 1941 a crucial defensive position in the Egyptian desert was named the Kaponga Box. It was constructed by troops from the Māori Battalion and the 5th Brigade; both reported to have included soldiers from Taranaki. The name chosen, although not officially sanctioned by the military hierarchy, was perhaps a morale-boosting connection with home.

The Kaponga Box was part of a chain of small fortresses stretching from the Qattara Depression to El Alamein on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In July 1942 this line of critical defensive positions was key to the Allies resisting the German and Italian advance on the Egyptian city of Alexandria in what became known as the First Battle of El Alamein.

The Allies’ success here and at the Second Battle of Alamein in October 1942 came at a cost and among those killed were at least two men from the Kaponga district. On 25 April 1947 Dr George Herbert Thomson from New Plymouth unveiled a memorial plaque on the gates outside Victoria Park to the 14 men from the town and surrounding district who lost their lives in World War Two.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Taranaki DP1549 Sheet 1 (1900), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP3494 Sheet 1 (1916), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP6459 Sheet 1 (1947), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)