REPAIRING HISTORY RESTORING MEMORIES RETURNING A HERO HOME

Memories of loss and sacrifice are set in stone monuments throughout the country. Each one creating a public place to gather and remember those we've lost in war and to cherish the peace we have that they once longed for. But as generations of tears, wind and rain are absorbed by the stones, a new war begins. Slowly pieces become loose, memories become frail, and the stones themselves begin returning to dust. For the Maori WW1 memorial in Whanganui this war, waged through weather and time, would have continued unabated destined to a conclusion of destruction further compounding our losses. Instead a community came together to change this destiny. To somehow save their unknown soldier and hold on to everything he represents. They called upon a small band of stone masons to join their side in the fight, to take up trowels and buckets instead of guns and canon, to ultimately do something not done for generations, to build a WW1 memorial, preserving exactly how it was then, now. The story follows the restoration battles fought now, against the backdrop of world war battles fought then. Led by the discovery that their unknown soldier is more uncle than unknown, and by the community who want to ensure their future can still learn from a past, that they have once again set in stone.—Double Farley