Twinned with Featherston
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The Mayor of Messines, Mr Sandy Evrard, and a trilingual twinning sign |
At first glance there might not be that much in common between the two other than the fact that they are both relatively small. But some 58 years before the twinning took place, there most certainly was. Completed in January 1916, the Featherston military camp could accommodate up to 8,500 men at a time and was responsible for training more than 30,000 of the 100,000 men who served with the New Zealand Division in World War One.
A good many of those men would have been part of the Division's attack at Messines - one of the most successful attacks on the Western Front throughout the war. For many of those servicemen their last memories of home would have been of the time they spent at Featherston. For many of the people of Messines, the New Zealanders were the ones who had liberated their town even if it did fall back into German hands for a short time afterwards.
Messines became an iconic place for many New Zealanders - in 1924, King Albert I of Belgium dedicated the New Zealand Memorial on the ridge at the edge of the town and there were continuing contacts over the years between Messines and a succession of New Zealand ambassadors serving in Brussels.
The man behind the 1970s twinning was the then Mayor of Messines, Dr Roger Lambelin OBE. It all came to fruition in 1975. On Anzac Day that year the twinning was made official in Featherston in a ceremony attended by the then Belgian Ambassador Herman J. Matsaert, who himself came from Messines. And, on Armistice Day, November 11, the same year the Mayor of Featherston, William A. McKerrow, was in Flanders to cement the bond.
Since then there have been mutual visits and exchanges between the two towns and on Armistice Weekend 2005 something special happened in each. Messines mounted a major exhibition to celebrate the anniversary of its twinning, Ngati Ranana - the London-based Maori cultural group - performed on stage (right) and the New Zealand Embassy, with the support of producer boards and vineyards, served up a variety of New Zealand products to the 300 people packing the hall.
In Featherston there was an altogether different event. With the Belgian Ambassador present, a 30th Anniversary Commemorative Wall at the town's cemetery was dedicated to Messines. The wall was built from the old gravestones of young soldiers who had died at the military damp during the 1918 flu epidemic.
Built in quick time, the camp two kilometres north of Featherston was, in its day, little short of a wonder. It included cookhouses, dining rooms, cinemas, billiard rooms, soldiers' and officers' quarters, shops and canteens. In fact, many soldiers experienced more comforts there than they had in their own homes.
It continued to serve as a training camp right up to World War Two and in 1942 was converted to a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Sadly it was to be the scene of a tragic incident in which 48 Japanese prisoners and one New Zealand soldier died
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Featherston Military Camp about 1915 Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. |
Today, the camp has returned to farmland and the only reminder of this historic complex is a small memorial and a bench with a verse from a Robert Frost poem engraved on it.
There is, however, a treasure from the days when the camp was established.
In order to help keep the soldiers away from the temptations of the cities, the local people clubbed together and built what is now known as Anzac Hall, a gem of its type which is now under Historic Places Trust protection. And there's the Heritage Museum, displaying articles from the past as well as items relating to the town's twin - Messines.
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