Location: Station Street / former railway station area
Access: Public streets and railway precinct, respecting rail safety
Associated years: 1914 to 1918, 1939 to 1945
Associated people/groups: departing soldiers, railway staff, families, local recruits
I thought the railway station should be included because soldiers did not simply “go to war”. They left from somewhere. In 1914, men moved from local drill halls to camps and ports through the railway system. Nationally, New Zealand Railways transported almost 16,000 troops into camp and 12,000 to ports by the end of 1914, with much larger totals by 1918. Railway stations became places of movement, farewell, anxiety, return and, for some families, the last place they saw a loved one.
For Timaru, this site connects the former Drill Hall to the wider mobilisation system. It also sits close to the Station Street air raid shelter, which later shows how the Second World War turned the same transport landscape into a possible home-front target.
Find a WuHoo: Think about what families may have seen here: uniforms, luggage, speeches, trains, silence, waving, and uncertainty.
DEPARTURE OF 7TH SOUTH CANTERBURY N.Z. CONTINGENT. EXPEDITIONARY FORCE FROM TIMARU. AUGUST 24, 1914 When King George V declared war on Germany, he did so on behalf of the entire British Empire. The New Zealand Government responded quickly by assembling an initial force of 8,500 men to form the NZEF (New Zealand Expeditionary Force) to aid the Empire. South Canterbury Museum https://museum.timaru.govt.nz/explore/online-exhibits/enduring-the-inferno-south-canterbury-and-the-first-world-war/1914-south-canterbury-at-war
This photo is from a postcard featuring an image of the north-bound express train passing Caroline Bay, sometime between late 1915 and 1920. Taken from the Piazza looking southward at the oncoming train. The skyline features the Hydro Grand hotel (right) and the Dominion Hotel (obscured by steam). I remember someone telling me they have a memory as a young child going to the Bay to pick up their father who had returned from war. South Canterbury Museum 2011/037.32