The celebrations marking the publication of Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship in October 2008 included a re-enactment of the return of C Company to Gisborne in 1946. At the time the unit was under military orders to remain on the train all the way from Wellington to Gisborne, where they would be formally welcomed at Te Poho-o-Rāwiri Marae. But as the train passed through Muriwai, 20 kms south of Gisborne, nine local men were persuaded to jump off to be with their families.
On the morning of 25 October 2008, the day of the Nga Tama Toa launch, a train hauled by the restored steam locomotive Wa 165 ran out to Muriwai where it collected veteran Nolan Raihania - one of the nine train jumpers in 1946 - and families from the area. The train then picked up other veterans on its way into Gisborne station, from where the march to Te Poho-o-Rāwiri began, as in 1946.
The locomotive pictured, Wa 165, was built in Dunedin in 1897 and worked out of Gisborne from 1910 to 1942. It was withdrawn from New Zealand Railways service in 1959. After a number of years in a Gisborne playground, it was restored and is now operated by Gisborne City Vintage Railway Inc.
Neill Atkinson, 2008
Comments (0)