Hokitika Westland RSA

11/10/2026

🇳🇿 12 OCTOBER 1917 — PASSCHENDAELE
NEW ZEALAND’S BLACKEST DAY

There are dates in New Zealand history that should never be forgotten.

12 October 1917 is one of them.

At 5.25am, in the cold and rain of Flanders, soldiers of the New Zealand Division climbed from their positions and began advancing towards Bellevue Spur, near Passchendaele, Belgium.

What followed was catastrophic.

The battlefield had been turned into a sea of mud. Heavy artillery could barely be moved forward and the preliminary bombardment had failed to destroy much of the German barbed wire.

The New Zealanders advanced anyway.

They struggled through deep mud towards wire that was still largely intact. German machine-gunners in concrete pillboxes swept the battlefield from the front and flanks.

Men became trapped in shell holes. Others desperately searched for gaps through the wire.

Within hours, the attack had effectively failed.

Around 2,700 New Zealanders became casualties.

846 New Zealand soldiers were recorded as dead or mortally wounded on 12 October.

More would subsequently die from their wounds.

In terms of New Zealand lives lost in a single day, 12 October 1917 remains our blackest day.

And the horror did not finish when the firing subsided.

Wounded men remained scattered across the battlefield, some lying for hours — even days — in the mud and rain.

Stretcher-bearers repeatedly ventured into the devastated ground to bring them back. Moving a single wounded man through kilometres of mud could require six or eight men and take hours.

For families back in New Zealand, the telegrams began arriving.

Small towns, farms, workplaces, rugby clubs and families throughout the country discovered that their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers would never come home.

Some families lost more than one.

The Newlove family of Takaka suffered an almost unimaginable loss. Three brothers — Charles, Edwin and Leslie Newlove — were killed during the New Zealand Division's operations of 4 and 12 October.

Today, many of the New Zealanders lost at Passchendaele have no known grave.

Their names are carved into memorials thousands of kilometres from home.

Others did return to New Zealand — wounded, scarred or carrying memories of a battlefield that stayed with them for the rest of their lives.

Gallipoli occupies a special place in our national story.

But we should also know the name Passchendaele.

Because on a wet Friday morning in Belgium, a small country on the other side of the world suffered a loss almost beyond comprehension.

12 October 1917.

Passchendaele.

843 dead or mortally wounded.

One morning.

We remember them.

Lest We Forget. 🇳🇿

08/10/2026

Friday is her and it’s time for the weekly catch up at your RSA from 1530hrs, or 330pm for civy types. Thomsons Meat Market raffle, cold drinks and open for visitors 👌

08/10/2026

🇳🇿🏉🇦🇺 HOKITIKA’S WALLABY — LARRY WOGAN

With the All Blacks and Wallabies facing each other this Saturday, here is a wonderful piece of shared Trans-Tasman rugby history.

One of Australia’s great early Wallabies was actually a Kiwi.

Lawrence “Larry” Wogan was born in Hokitika on the West Coast in 1890, attended Hokitika District High School and, as a teenager, went to Wellington, where he played club rugby before eventually moving to Australia.

And what a rugby career followed.

Wogan became Wallaby No. 133, making his Test debut against the country of his birth — New Zealand at Wellington in 1913.

He went on to play against the All Blacks repeatedly during a representative career stretching from 1912 to 1924.

Then came the First World War.

International rugby effectively stopped, and a generation of rugby players disappeared into the war.

In 1919 Wogan was part of the famous Australian Imperial Force rugby team, which played against service teams representing New Zealand, South Africa and Britain.

It was an extraordinary period when rugby helped bring servicemen together after four years of war.

Wogan's connection with New Zealand wasn't finished either.

In 1921 he returned with New South Wales, playing against the All Blacks in Christchurch and touring the country.

One of the most special matches must have been his return to the West Coast, where he played against West Coast at Greymouth — and scored a try.

By the end of his remarkable career, Wogan had accumulated 22 matches now recognised as Tests, six as a Wallaby and 16 representing New South Wales in matches subsequently granted Test status.

So when the All Blacks and Wallabies take the field this Saturday, spare a thought for one of the men who links the histories of both countries.

Born in Hokitika.

Raised in New Zealand.

A Wallaby.

And a member of the famous 1919 AIF rugby team that took to the field against New Zealand servicemen after the Great War.

Larry Wogan — Hokitika's Wallaby.

Two countries. One shared rugby history. 🇳🇿🤝🇦🇺

Lest We Forget.

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

We asked. They answered - well, some of them did.

Ahead of the 2026 General Election, the Royal New Zealand RSA asked New Zealand’s political parties the same questions about the issues that matter to veterans and their whānau.

Now the responses are in.

You can see what each responding party had to say about the Veterans’ Support Act, Veterans’ Affairs, health and mental health, transition from service, support for whānau and more on the RNZRSA website.

And in the interests of transparency, you can also see which parties responded and which didn’t.

We’re not ranking the answers, endorsing parties or telling anyone how to vote. We're simply putting the information in front of you, so you can compare the responses and make up your own mind.

👉 Read the parties’ responses here: https://rnzrsa.info/Election26

Veterans deserve to know how they are valued by New Zealand's political parties.

02/10/2026

Members and friends enjoying a Quiz night in our RSA last night…….Thank you Mike Keenan for being our Quiz master! Thanks Charlie Cowie for helping the Event Committee……. A super fun night for all……..Thanks Steph 🤩……Also thanks to all that stayed behind to clean up…….⚓️✈️🪖

01/10/2026

🇺🇸 FROM THE BATTLEFIELDS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR TO REEFTON

Here is something you don't expect to find in a small New Zealand cemetery.
Buried at Reefton is Captain Alexander John Kennedy, born in 1841 and died on 7 January 1903. His bronze plaque records his service as:

CAPT F&S — 19 GA INFANTRY
CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY

“F&S” means Field and Staff, indicating that Kennedy was associated with the headquarters of the 19th Georgia Infantry.
The 19th Georgia was formed in 1861 and sent to Virginia. It subsequently saw extensive combat during the American Civil War. Its battle history included the Seven Days Battles, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

At Antietam in September 1862, the regiment suffered particularly heavily. It attacked across open ground and lost 13 killed and 76 wounded. At Fredericksburg that December, the regiment suffered nearly another 200 casualties.

The 19th was later transferred south, serving around Charleston before fighting at the Battle of Olustee in Florida in February 1864, where it suffered another 94 casualties. It returned to Virginia, fought at Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor, and served in the Petersburg defences. In 1865 it fought in the Carolinas before surrendering with General Joseph Johnston's forces.

What we haven't yet established from the records we've found is exactly when Kennedy served with the regiment or which of these actions he personally participated in. His grave nevertheless records an extraordinary connection between Reefton and the American Civil War.

And then comes the mystery.

How did a former Confederate officer end up in Reefton, New Zealand?
Given Reefton's history, it's tempting to wonder whether gold brought him to the West Coast. Men travelled from around the world to the district during the mining era. But until we find Kennedy in mining, immigration or newspaper records, that remains a possibility rather than a confirmed fact.

Imagine the journey, though — Georgia, the American Civil War, and eventually Reefton, where he died in 1903 and remains buried today.

We'd love to find out more.
If anyone knows anything about Alexander John Kennedy, particularly when he arrived in New Zealand, what he did in Reefton, or whether he was connected with the goldfields, please get in touch.

Sometimes a single grave opens up a remarkable piece of international history.

Captain Alexander John Kennedy
19th Georgia Infantry
Confederate States Army
1841–1903

01/10/2026

Friday is here and so is the weekly catch up, join us at 330 for cold drinks and Thomsons Meat Market raffle. Later on stick around for the Quiz night 👌

30/09/2026

Our latest online newsletter is out tonight! If you're a client or have previously signed up to receive this, watch your inbox.

Not signed up yet? There's still time! Sign up here: www.veteransaffairs.mil.nz/news-events/sign-up-to-our-newsletter/

Gmail users, remember to check your Promotions tab. If our email ends up there, simply drag it to your Primary inbox so future emails from us land where you prefer.

29/09/2026

🔎 🇳🇿 WE’RE LOOKING FOR THE FAMILY OF SERGEANT ROBERT HENRY HALLIGAN, DCM, MM

The New Zealand Remembrance Army is trying to locate descendants or family of 6/3335 Sergeant Robert Henry Halligan, a highly decorated First World War soldier who is buried at Hokitika Cemetery.

Why?

Because there is a significant omission from his headstone.

His Military Medal — MM — is missing.

Halligan was awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and the Military Medal (MM) for his service during the First World War.

Yet his headstone does not record the MM.

We have approached Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand about having this corrected, but they will not replace the headstone until family have been located.

So we need your help.

If you are related to Robert Halligan, know one of his descendants, or have information that could help us locate his family, please contact the New Zealand Remembrance Army.

And his is a story worth remembering.

Halligan served with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment on the Western Front.

During one action, he was operating a Lewis gun when the weapon jammed.

With German soldiers in front of him, Halligan and three other men went forward armed with bombs.

They attacked the enemy position, killing four German soldiers, driving off the remainder and recovering valuable enemy documents.

Halligan survived the war having earned two significant decorations for gallantry and distinguished service — the DCM and MM.

His DCM was later presented to him by King George V.

After returning to New Zealand, Halligan married Maude Foster in 1919, and the couple had four children.

He worked as an attendant at the mental hospital at Hokitika and was involved with the Returned Soldiers’ Association at Ross.

Sadly, in December 1922, Robert Halligan died aged just 35.

More than a century later, he lies at Hokitika Cemetery — but his headstone does not tell his complete story.

The MM is missing.

For a man who earned that decoration under the extraordinary conditions of the Western Front, we think that omission matters.

We would like to see his service properly recognised.

But first, we need to find his family.

Please share this post, particularly with anyone with Halligan or Foster family connections on the West Coast.

Someone out there may be the person we are looking for.

🇳🇿 Sergeant Robert Henry Halligan, DCM, MM

We will remember him — and we want his headstone to remember him properly too.