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Like most New Zealand small towns, the Waikato town of Mercer has a World War One memorial
honouring soldiers from the area. However, its story dates back 50 years earlier to a
different war.
The unusual base of the memorial is actually the gun turret of the Pioneer, a boat which
was used on the Waikato River by British forces during their 1860s war against Waikato Māori.
This gunboat was one of the first naval vessels in the world which was designed with revolving
gun turrets. The Pioneer was a paddle steamer clad in protective iron. It had two revolving
gun turrets and was New Zealand's first purpose-built warship. The revolving guns allowed vessels
to fire in several directions without having to manoeuvre into position first.
Māori had used the Waikato River as a transport and trade highway for centuries. When the
first European missionaries ventured into the Waikato region, the river also provided
an essential way to get around. It also played an important role during the Waikato War.
The British were keen to invade the Waikato and suppress the Māori rebellion against
the colonial government, and also secure fertile Waikato land. The British campaign would have
started earlier, but they decided to wait so they could gather more troops and build
a road, as well as bring in settlers from the Otago goldfields and Australia to enlist
as soldiers.
The Great South Road, a military road constructed from Drury, stopped at Mercer. After the two-day
trip from Auckland, goods and men were loaded onto the Pioneer or its partner craft, the
Avon, at Mercer's wharf. The wharf stood opposite where the memorial is now located. Once loaded,
the Pioneer and the Avon travelled along the Waikato River to key locations. These two
vessels and some barges were effectively New Zealand's first navy flotilla.
The Pioneer and Avon were used not only to transport troops and goods, but survey enemy
positions and shell defended pās. Both boats were used in the successful 1863 attacks at
Rangiriri, and a few weeks earlier, at the pā at Meremere, which was defended by about
2000 Māori warriors.
The Māori defenders at Meremere were equipped with a few old cannon but they did not have
any shot so used anything they had on hand. Most of their shots simply rattled off the
iron sides of the Pioneer, although it is said that a cask of beef on the deck became
a casualty.
However, soon after these battles the two gun turrets on the Pioneer were removed. It
is possible this was done to make the vessel lighter. One gun turret was left at Mercer
and the other at Ngāruawāhia. The Pioneer eventually sank in 1866 on the Manukau Bar
near Auckland.
During the late nineteenth century, the gun turret at Mercer was used as a police lock-up
for intoxicated people. Then, in 1922, it was turned into the World War One memorial
we see today. New Zealand's casualty rate during this war was one of the highest. Afterwards,
war memorials were erected in every New Zealand town to soldiers who had lost their lives.
This is one of a small group of World War One memorials created in the 1920s that also
remembers the New Zealand Wars.