The discovery and settlement of the Wairarapa region is connected with several prominent figures of New Zealand's history. Ancestral figures such as Kupe, Toi, Tara, and Hau have all been said to have connections with the region and are responsible for the naming of Wairarapa and its important features and places. It has been estimated that Rangitane settled in the region by about the sixteenth century. Marriage links with Rangitane saw a group of Ngati Kahungunu retreat to the Wairarapa in the subsequent century as the result of internal hapu conflict. The two groups cohabitated mostly in the south Wairarapa for a period, but then the Ngati Kahungunu newcomers negotiated several sections of land for themselves. This process was not seamless and instances of conflict continued between the two iwi over the centuries. The next significant period of change in the area was in the early nineteenth century with the progression of Te Rauparaha and others. This ushered in an era when many different iwi, including Ngati Whatua, Ngati Awa, Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Tama, and Ngati Mutunga, made advances into the region and some Ngati Kahungunu hapu withdrew.
European incursion into the Wairarapa only began after the New Zealand Company's Port Nicholson settlement was established. Based on the reports of the exploring and surveying parties that the company sent out, the southern Wairarapa became one of the first extensive tracts of land to be occupied by Europeans, although the Crown titles, negotiated by Donald McLean, were not obtained until 1853. However, it took substantially longer for settlement to progress beyond Masterton, which was linked to Wellington by road in 1859. Further incursion was slow because the northern Wairarapa was heavily forested, as opposed to the south with its relatively clear and large grass plains.
Therefore, while there was some European settlement during this period in the northern Wairarapa, it was not until the road network extended further, and the railway link to Wellington was established, that this area was opened up for settlement to any great extent. In preparation for the construction of the railway the Government had an active role in the establishment of several towns in the Wairapapa. Towns such as Mauriceville, Eketahuna, Norsewood and Dannevirke were all formed as bases for the railway labourers and settled by predominantly Scandinavian immigrants, which under the Immigration and Public Works Act 1870 the Government had a mandate to assist in coming to New Zealand. Areas which the railway was to travel through, such as the Manawatu - Wairarapa No.1 or Eketahuna Block were reserved by the Government under the Railway Act 1871. Part of the preparation for the railway construction included building a road through the district which had progressed by the mid to late 1870s, as had the initial development of the settlements at Mauriceville and Eketahuna.
With the help of the Scandinavian workers, the railway connecting Wairarapa to Wellington and the Palmerston North to Napier line was completed in the closing years of the nineteenth century. This transport access was invaluable for further settlement and the development of the local economy, helping to stimulate the Wairarapa's dairy, sawmilling, and other industries. Kaiparoro, between Mauriceville and Eketahuna, was a small settlement established in 1888 by a group of Wellington residents who called themselves the Wellington Special Settlement Group. At this time the area which became the Kaiparoro settlement was a dense piece of the forest within 70 Mile Bush. Because of the nature of the landscape, when members of this group moved to Kaiparoro it was logical to establish timber milling as an early industry. As such, Kaiparoro soon became characterised by milling, as well as being the rural centre of a predominantly dairy farming area.
Alfred Falkner (1854-1939), who designed the ANZAC Memorial Bridge at Kaiparoro, was notable locally in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as one of the initial European settlers and as the owner of the larger of Kaiparoro's two sawmills. Falkner became a prominent and particularly active member of the local community. Among other roles, he was a member of the first Kaiparoro School Committee in 1894, and was then chairman between 1911 and 1920. In addition Falkner served on the Eketahuna County Council, and this Council, as well as the neighbouring Mauriceville County Council, utilised his engineering training and experience to establish the water supply for Eketahuna, as well as designing bridges and other structures. Earlier in his career Falkner had worked for the Lands and Survey Department, Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, and also undertook other civil engineering projects, such as the design of the Kaiwarra Suspension Bridge, Hurunui River (1911).
Efficient and effective transport infrastructure was important for local industries, and by extension the economy of a district. As such, it was widely recognised before World War One that a road bridge over the Makakahi River at Kaiparoro, on the border between the Eketahuna and Mauriceville County Council's areas, was necessary. Although most long distance travel at this time was done by train, there was a growing importance placed on establishing unimpeded road infrastructure up through the Wairarapa from Wellington, and the Makakahi River at Kaiparoro was the last water crossing still requiring a bridge. Early vehicular traffic was forced to ford the Makakahi River at Kaiparoro, while pedestrian traffic made use of a 'narrow rickety walking swing bridge.' While the road was said to be good in the area, this ford crossing was known to be treacherous when the river was in flood, stranding cars and sometimes causing horses to falter and fall. Because of the relatively high rainfall in the area this flooding is said to have occurred with some frequency, and therefore when ANZAC Memorial Bridge was completed it 'was a great relief.'
Despite the recognition that road traffic in the area was heavy and likely to increase, the building of ANZAC Memorial Bridge involved years of sustained petitioning by local people at both local council and government level. There were lengthy arguments between the Mauriceville and Eketahuna County Councils as to who would pay for a bridge given its position on the boundary of the two Council's areas. Therefore, the bridge project was stalled until these local bodies were finally pressured into reaching an agreement. Eventually, the Mauriceville County Council provided a substantial portion of the funding which was subsidised by money from the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Eketahuna County Council.
Some early PWD plans for the proposed bridge, dating from 1919, were for a timber structure. The use of concrete in bridges was well established in New Zealand by this time and was preferred because of its relative durability, which makes the PWDs idea of using timber surprising because even a steel bridge would have proved more enduring then timber. Despite this apparent PWD preference, by 1920 Falkner had designed the mass concrete bridge, which would later be described as 'small but intriguing.' The timber version proposed by the PWD was typical of other road bridges in the area as Falkner's use of concrete is said to have been a first in the district. It seems likely that it was at this time that the dual function of the structure as a memorial bridge was decided upon. Despite the PWD vetting the plans and contributing funding, the responsibility for building the bridge was delegated to the Mauriceville County Council.
However, the ANZAC Memorial Bridge project at Kaiparoro seems to have been primarily driven by the community for the community. The design was undertaken by Falkner, and he along with W.A. Miller (1872-1951), who was a member of the Mauriceville County Council, were key lobbyists for the structure and then instrumental in it becoming a reality by project managing the build. The advantage of having a local person who had lived next to the river for 30 years design the structure was that Falkner had experienced, and was intensely familiar, with the nature of the Makakahi River and the long term requirements needed for a bridge to withstand its floods. It was this awareness which motivated the arch design of the structure as Falkner, and many other locals, believed it would be hazardous to build a structure like that initially proposed by the PWD, with piers spaced across the river. Such a design would have to withstand the considerable amount of scouring and debris build-up that would occur during floods which increased the possibility of a washout. Therefore Falkner's concrete arch design inspired confidence and it was the preferred choice of the local people and councillors.
Eventually, the first sod for the ANZAC Memorial Bridge was turned on the left bank of the Makakahi River in June 1921, and the wider community was to play an important part in its completion. In order to keep costs down an unskilled labour force was used, consisting of many local men some of whom were returned servicemen. This meant that the women of the area needed to rally to feed the workers, as well as be prepared to add farm and other duties to their regular work in order to compensate for the labour that was shifted to the bridge project. The bridge was finally completed in late November, just in time for the planned opening of the structure on 1 December 1922.
The official opening of the bridge marked the successful culmination of years of struggling by local people to have a bridge built and then their combined effort in its construction. As such, when the first car was driven across the bridge there was significant local fanfare and the celebrations attended by hundreds of people also included a picnic and a ball. However, the commemorative aspect of the bridge was not completed at this time as the enlarged versions of the war memorial medals and plaques that Falkner created using plaster of paris moulds were unfortunately not completed. Therefore, these festivities were followed by a solemn occasion a few months later, on ANZAC Day 1923, when the commemorative plaques on the bridge were unveiled and the bridge dedicated. From the time of this first ANZAC Day commemoration held at the bridge the ANZAC Memorial Bridge was consistently used as the site for local ANZAC Day ceremonies.
New Zealand memorials to those who died in World War One started to be erected while the war was still taking place. As in the case of those commemorated on the ANZAC Memorial Bridge, the men who died during the war were buried overseas. For the majority of their families this meant that a war memorial became a surrogate grave at which they could go through the rituals associated with death in the absence of access to the person's actual burial site. The majority of war memorials were constructed within a decade of the cessation of World War One, and these were primarily in the form of a monument. This was because many felt that functional community structures such as libraries, halls, and bridges, were inappropriate as the community should not benefit when the purpose of a memorial was to recognise the sacrifice of others. It is unknown whether such debates were considered among Kaiparoro people when it was decided to create a memorial bridge, but the level of monetary and physical contributions to the construction project would suggest not.
In 1923 the ANZAC Memorial Bridge, with its explicit references to those local men who had died in World War One, was a poignant reminder of the Kaiparoro area's recent individual and collective losses as a result of that war. Those commemorated on the monument include Victor Andrew Falkner, who was the youngest son of Alfred Falkner. Victor Falkner and his cousin, Donald Kelway Pallant, both died at Gallipoli. While Pallant does not seem to have spent a significant amount of time in Kaiparoro his parents lived locally from the early twentieth century, and of course he had a family connection with the designer of the bridge. The other local men honoured on the bridge, Arthur Lock Braddick, Charles Gibson Harvey, Stephen Morgan, and John Howard Snell, were all from long established local families. The fact that most of those men named on the memorial had died at Gallipoli, or were among the reinforcement regiments sent to fight in the aftermath of Gallipoli, made the ANZAC specific dedication of the memorial particularly appropriate. However, one suspects that it may have been Falkner's loss of his son and nephew in the initial ANZAC battles which motivated him, in his role as designer of the bridge, to create a structure commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
The commemorative nature of the bridge not only had significance to those in the vicinity of Kaiparoro, as a tribute to those local men who had died during World War One, but it also had national and trans-Tasman resonances as an ANZAC memorial. The ANZAC legend was forged at Gallipoli, which was a devastating campaign and one that solidified the horror of the war in the psyches of those back in New Zealand and Australia due to the incomprehensible death toll. However, this also evoked a sense of national pride amongst the ANZAC countries, as is evident in the ANZAC Day commemorations that have taken place since 1916. Importantly, the legacy of Gallipoli and the ANZACs has been singled out as a key component in the evolution of the national identities of both New Zealand and Australia.
Another element of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge that enabled its commemorative function to reach beyond a local audience was that the war-related iconography on the structure was instantly recognisable to those using the highway bridge on their travels through the Wairarapa. The bridge includes several different enlarged replicas of World War One medals, one of which is the 1914/15 Star. A replica of this medal was particularly appropriate for an ANZAC memorial because it was awarded to all personnel who served at Gallipoli. Another medal replicated on the bridge is the Victory Medal, depicting Victory holding a palm leaf and encircled by an inscription which was found on the obverse of this medal awarded to approximately six million military personnel of the British Empire who fought in World War One.
These replicas form symmetrical pairings either side of the central motif which was a copy of the World War One Memorial Plaque. This was issued to every next of kin of those who were killed on active service during World War One, and was therefore nicknamed the Dead Man's Penny. The plaque depicts the standing figure of Britannia holding a trident and wreath, behind a walking lion. Other symbols on the plaque include dolphins, and in the area beneath the platform on which Britannia stands is a lion cub with a fallen eagle in its mouth. Because of the high visibility on the main highway through the Wairarapa and the motifs and references on the bridge that were easily recognisable, for many simply driving across the structure was an act of remembrance. This would have been repeated thousands of times by 1956 when the main route was diverted away from the ANZAC Memorial Bridge and a new highway bridge constructed nearby.
The planning and construction of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge was contemporary with the creation of the ANZAC Day public holiday in 1920. The commemorative function of this holiday was later extended to include all of those who died in both World Wars. Likewise, and similar to many other memorials erected in the aftermath of World War One, the ANZAC Memorial Bridge's roll of honour was expanded, through the addition of the plaque on the interior of the bridge, as a result of casualties during World War Two. This plaque repeated the names of the World War One losses and listed three further people: William Edward Kewley, Brian Charles Minett, and Margaret Olive McAnulty. Both Kewley and Minett were not originally from Kaiparoro but had subsequently spent a significant period in and around the area.
The other World War Two casualty listed on the memorial was Margaret McAnulty who was from of a prominent early Kaiparoro family and had been a member of the New Zealand Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). The presence of New Zealand women on service during World War One was restricted to nurses. However, by World War Two this position was changing with many women not content with being limited to their traditional role of nurse or staying at home 'weeping, waiting, and fundraising.' As such, in 1941 women's auxiliary service groups began to be established based on male military models, and for the first time 'New Zealanders were confronted with the sight of women in military uniforms.' After being founded in 1942, the WAAC became the largest of the women's auxiliaries with 4600 volunteers, 900 of which served overseas in World War Two. These women worked mainly as medical support staff, clerical workers, or in the servicemen's clubs in Egypt and Italy. McAnulty spent much of her time posted in Egypt and was killed, along with three colleagues, when her transport vehicle was hit by another vehicle. She is one of only approximately ten WAAC members who were killed during World War Two.
By the 1950s the roads in New Zealand were being improved and more people were making use of them. As the last one-way bridge between Masterton and Eketahuna on State Highway 2, the ANZAC Memorial Bridge was increasingly viewed as an inconvenience to road users. As such, the Ministry of Works (MOW) instigated a plan to build a new bridge next to the existing one, which would also mean realigning the road to eliminate the S bend. Initially the MOW was going to demolish the ANZAC Memorial Bridge when the new bridge was completed. However, entreaties from local people that it 'wasn't fair that memories would be blown up' forestalled this. While the bridge may have been no longer suitable in terms of its road infrastructure function, the public dismay at its possible destruction indicated that it still fulfilled its commemorative function admirably. Despite being diverted away from, the ANZAC Memorial Bridge's position immediately next to the realigned road and new bridge still meant it was highly visible along the highway, although arguably somewhat of a curiosity.
Despite its loss of infrastructure function, the ANZAC Memorial Bridge was retained as an asset by the highway authority and as a redundant structure it was left to weather and age. As such, by the late twentieth century the bridge had a neglected appearance. Therefore in 1976 the bridge was repainted and restored. The project was prompted by the return of the central Memorial Plaque, which had been missing for many years. The plaque had reportedly fallen into the river and was recovered and removed from the site by a family picnicking at the bridge, which was popular spot among travellers because of its proximity to the rest area at the W.A. Miller Reserve.
Almost 30 years later another restoration project was launched. This was driven by a group of local people who banded together to form the Friends of ANZAC Memorial Bridge Kaiparoro Incorporated. This group was instrumental in commencing a restoration project in 2005 which was supported by Transit, the local and regional councils, other community groups and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. As was the case when the bridge was being constructed, many people donated time and labour to the project, including soldiers from Linton Army Base, and local school children who were engaged to repaint the bridge. The restoration initiative was also supported by central government who, as part of the Year of the Veteran in 2006, provided some funding to help with the aim of connecting the bridge to the W.A. Miller Scenic Reserve by way of a riverside walkway. The connection between the bridge and the reserve which was donated to the Crown in 1946 by Miller is appropriate because the reserve not only provides parking and facilities for visitors wishing to visit the ANZAC Memorial Bridge, but it connects the two main physical legacies of W.A. Miller. Once this work was completed the bridge was rededicated in April 2006.
