The 100th Anzac Remembrance Day parades in Riverton were well supported with the biggest turn-out to a dawn parade that anyone can remember. The Riverton service and the one at Colac Bay were run by Dene Cole who is a rūnaka member of ours.
To commemorate this significant occasion, The Riverton and Districts Returned Services Association organised a field of crosses, which is situated on the grass area between the troopers monument and Te Hīkoi Museum in the main street of Riverton.
These crosses bear the names of each soldier from the district who paid the ultimate sacrifice. There is something very poignant about the crosses, they seem to capture and personalise the haunting reality and tragedy of war much more so than a name inscribed on a memorial board.
Amongst these crosses are the names of four Ngāi Tahu brothers, who lost their lives in World War I. Trooper David Hunter, Private Harold (Harry) Hunter, Corporal Joseph Walker Hunter and Private William Grey Hunter were sons of well-known local whānau Jane (née Goodwillie) and Joseph Hunter.
Several Hunter-Goodwille descendants still live locally and are active rūnaka members, others live throughout Te Waipounamu, Te-Ika-a-Māui and around the world. Moe mai rā i te rangimārie.
Aunty Jane Davis, Muriel Johnstone and Ann Wakefield, three generations of nieces of the Hunter whānau at the field of crosses.
The field of crosses.