From traditional monuments to functional buildings, and even living trees, public memorials take many shapes and forms. In Whakatere Ashburton many commemorate wartime sacrifice, while others acknowledge colonial settlement and industry, or the original site of the famed mātai tree, Hine-Paaka.

This exhibition tells the stories behind local memorials, who created them and why, using objects and images from our collection to illustrate the people and events commemorated, as well as memorials now lost to time. What do these sites of memory tell us about our town and district? What do they commemorate, and for whom?