A lone memorial that stands on the beach front at Motueka is well worth the stop to reflect on the why and whom it was erected for.
Leonard Matthew Tarrant was born in 1871 to Henry and Katherine in Brightwater, but the family then relocated to Lower Moutere to take up a farm.
Leonard spent some time on the goldfields in the Coromandel and, in 1899, enlisted to serve in the Boer War in South Africa. With little military experience he joined the 1st New Zealand Contingent, departing for Cape Town in October on board the ship Waiwera.
Leonard saw action at the Battle of Sanna’s Post, also known as Kroon Spruit, an engagement fought between the British forces, which included the NZ contingent and the Boers. Leonard was one of a large number of soldiers who were captured and while a prisoner of war he contracted enteric fever, dying on 15 April 1900, and buried in the public cemetery close to the town.
In mid-1902, the Motueka Borough Council were in the throes of deciding what form their peace celebrations would b,e and how they were going to celebrate the accession of King Edward VII. Mr L Moffatt presented a letter to the council requesting that as part of the peace celebrations a memorial in the form of a drinking fountain should be erected to Leonard Tarrant’s memory and placed at the shore end of the wharf for the use of the horses and to provide a lamp on top of the memorial for the public on dark nights. Moffat had already collected a sum of money from shilling subscriptions for the purpose of fixing a brass tablet to the structure.
The council agreed to the erection of a memorial, but also decided it could have a threefold purpose. It would serve as a memorial to Leonard Tarrant, the accession of King Edward VII, and the celebration of Peace.
The completed monument was the work of George Miller of ‘Miller and Sons, Nelson’ and stood about 12ft high, being square in shape, of concrete and cement. It had a solid base with drinking fonts in front, finished at the top with a heavily moulded cap, and topped with a lamp. A marble slab was mounted on the side fronting the wharf with the inscription:—”In memory of Trooper Leonard M.
Tarrant, a Member of the 1st N.Z. Contingent, Born February 8 1871, who died of enteric fever at Pretoria, South Africa, April 15th, 1900. Also, to Commemorate the Accession of King Edward VII., and the Celebration of Peace, 1902.”
The unveiling took place in July 1903 in the presence of a large crowd and was performed by the Mayor, J S Wratt. Thirty-six mounted corps were drawn up inline under their officers and at the unveiling a flag which covered the front of the monuments was removed bearing the tablet with the mounted corps presenting arms.
Mr H Tarrant, father of the late trooper, thanked all who had supported the effort to record his son’s services and stated that by having volunteered to take a comrade’s place, his late son was taken prisoner. He had, however, been well treated by the Boers when ill and had been given every attention at their hospital.
The proceedings terminated by singing a verse of the National Anthem.
Over the years the memorial was neglected and vandalised, the lamp went missing and the memorial tablet to Leonard was removed and placed on the Motueka cenotaph.
The memorial has been restored with a new plaque and a refurbished horse trough and dogs’ water bowl and the oil lamp.
