ONERAHI STONE BUS SHELTER WAR MEMORIAL By Daryl Leo Wakelin. Great-grandson of Flora Mary Commins. Stone Bus Shelter, Onerahi. Flora Mary Commins (nee Handley) was born in New Zealand in 1883 and married her husband Alfred in Melbourne, Australia in 1910. They had four sons – John, Charles, Phillip and Benjamin, and two daughters – Marion and Deborah. Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to New Zealand, where they took up farming and eventually bought a farm in Onerahi. When their farm was sold and later subdivided, two roads that were subsequently built on their former farm, Commins Road and Handley Place, were named after the family.
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ONERAHI STONE BUS SHELTER WAR MEMORIALBy Daryl Leo Wakelin. Great-grandson of Flora Mary Commins.
Stone Bus Shelter, Onerahi.
Flora Mary Commins (nee Handley) was born in New Zealand in 1883 and married her husband Alfred in Melbourne, Australia in 1910. They had four sons – John, Charles, Phillip and Benjamin, and two daughters – Marion and Deborah.
Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to New Zealand, where they took up farming and eventually bought a farm in Onerahi. When their farm was sold and later subdivided, two roads that were subsequently built on their former farm, Commins Road and Handley Place, were named after the family.
During the Second World War, three of Flora and Alfred’s sons went off to fight in the war. Their fourth son, Phillip, had been killed in a car accident in Wellington on 11th February 1939, aged 25.
John Seymour Handley Commins (left), was born in Melbourne, Australia on 16 February 1912. John was raised in New Zealand and attended Onerahi primary school but had returned to Australia before the war.In June 1940, he quit his job as a farm station hand and joined the Australian Army. His brothers, Charles and Benjamin enlisted in the New Zealand Forces.John was posted to the Royal Australian Artillery with the rank of Bombardier and they left Australia in February 1941 bound for Malaya where they undertook further training. On 6 December, they were placed on a battle footing and two
days later the Japanese invaded northern Malaya. When Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942, John and the surviving members of his Regiment became prisoners of the Japanese. In July 1942, John was transferred from Changi POW Camp in Singapore to British North Borneo to construct an airfield at Sandakan. Conditions were reasonable at first but as the war progressed Sandakan became isolated and food became scarce. By January 1945, the POW ration was reduced to just 70 grams of rice per man per day. Malaria was rife and with no medical supplies to help combat recurring malaria attacks, the men in their weakened state died like flies. On 2 April, after more than 3 years as a Japanese POW, John became very ill with malaria and died on 8 May 1945, just 3 months before the war ended, aged 33.Wrapped in banana leaves, John was buried in a shallow unmarked grave a short distance from the POW camp - by this time the burial parties were not individually marking the graves. In late 1945, the remains of all those buried in the make-shift Sandakan cemetery were exhumed for reburial in Labuan War Cemetery in Labuan Island, Borneo. All the graves of the unidentified soldiers are marked with headstones inscribed ‘Known unto God’.Of the 2,345 POW soldiers held at Sandakan, only 6 survived, all of whom had escaped.
John’s brother, Charles Lilburn Handley Commins (left), was born in Mauku, near Pukekohe, on 4th October 1915. Charles was a Lance Corporal in the 22nd Infantry Battalion and left New Zealand in May 1940 with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force bound for England. In March 1941, the 22nd
Infantry Battalion was transferred to the Middle East. Charles was killed in action on 27 November 1941 in the Western Desert, Libya aged 26 and has no known grave. Charles is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt.Charles left behind a wife, Hazel Freda Commins, of Ohakune.
Their father Alfred, died in New Zealand in January 1943, devastated by the death of his sons Phillip in 1939, Charles in 1941 and the capture of his oldest son John in 1942. Benjamin was the only son who returned home from the war and died in 1993 aged 70.
War Memorial plaque
In 1948, heartbroken Flora, who had lost three sons and her husband within 6 years of each other, arranged and paid for a bus shelter made of stone to be erected in the grassy area between the intersection of Cartwright and Onerahi roads opposite to Onerahi shopping centre and referred to by locals at the time as “the Triangle”. The bus shelter housed a granite war memorial plaque in memory of her boys and four other former students of Onerahi Primary school who had also lost their lives during the war.
Donald Charles Tooth (left) is the son of William and Sarah Tooth (nee Callaghan), of Portland. He was educated at Onerahi Primary school and went to Whangarei Boys High School in 1928.He was a labourer in Whangarei before he enlisted in 1940.Donald was a Private in the 24th Infantry Battalion and arrived in the Middle East on September 1941. He was in the historic trek from Syria to El Alamein, where he was posted missing and later held as a prisoner-of-war (POW) by Axis forces.Donald was killed on 17th August 1942 aged 27 as a result of the Nino Bixio tragedy during WW2. Donald is buried in Phaleron War Cemetery, Greece.
In total, 116 New Zealand soldiers lost their lives on 17th August 1942 when the British submarine HMS Turbulent torpedoed the Italian ship SS Nino Bixio in the Mediterranean Sea when she was transporting ANZAC and Allied POW's from Libya to Italy. Despite extensive damage, the Nino Bixio did not sink. The ship was towed by an escorting destroyer to Navarino in southern Greece, where the dead were buried. However, the
majority of the dead have no grave but the sea and are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial in Western Egypt.Another great-uncle of the author, Leo Oliver Wakelin from Kamo, served in the same battalion as Donald and died aged 23 in the same tragedy. Leo was interred in Navarino.
Leon Edward Rowlands (left) is the son of Edward and Arlien Rowlands (nee Scott), of Onerahi and husband of Gladys Iris Rowlands, of Cambridge. Leon, also known as Bill, was a farmhand in Te Awamutu before he enlisted in 1943. Bill was a Lance Corporal in the 21st Infantry Battalion with the NZ Army and was killed in action in Italy on 26th July 1944 aged 22. Bill is buried in Florence War Cemetery, Italy.
David Handforth Hawkes (left) is the son of George Augustus and Lillias Hawkes (nee Handforth), of Takapuna. Three of George Hawkes' sons served in WW2. The eldest son, Richard Kenworthy Hawkes, served in the Navy while Graeme Bradshaw Hawkes served in NZ Medical Corps and was posted to Western Desert in Libya.
David was educated at Onerahi Primary school and Whangarei Boys High School. He was a keen sportsman who had represented Onerahi in cricket and rugby. David worked for the Whangarei Harbour Board prior to enlisting
with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) as a Leading Aircraftman. He was killed in a RNZAF flying training accident at Ohakea Airforce base, New Zealand on 3rd July 1940 aged 24. The air accident occurred while practicing bombing runs when the bomb release gear failed. David was then asked to check the release gear and it was presumed he had fallen out of the aircraft to his death.David was given a full military funeral service and is buried in Onerahi Public Cemetery opposite Onerahi Primary school.
Bruce Graham Murray McBeath is the son of Clyde and Mary Pretoria McBeath, of Onerahi. He was educated at Onerahi Primary school and Whangarei Boys High School from 1933 to 1938.Bruce served with the Auckland Infantry Regiment and died on 1st August 1940 aged 19. The cause of death is unknown.Bruce is buried in Onerahi Public Cemetery opposite Onerahi Primary school.
When the public bus service between Onerahi and Whangarei was discontinued in the late 60’s/early 70’s, the stone bus shelter was no longer used and was eventually demolished in 1972. The war memorial plaque was saved and given to Onerahi Primary school where it was put on display in 1974. At the school in 1974 were two of Flora Commins great-grandchildren, Daryl and Grant Wakelin (pictured below) who were photographed by the Northern Advocate in front of the plaque during the unveiling ceremony.
Northern Advocate, 1974 – Memorial plaque unveiled at Onerahi primary school
In 2015, on a visit to Onerahi primary school, Daryl noticed that the plaque was looking rather tired and in need of repair. Daryl contacted Paul Bishop of Robinsons Memorials to arrange for the plaque to be restored. Paul, who had two children at Onerahi primary school, offered to restore the plaque for free. The restoration was completed in July 2015 and the plaque was re-dedicated on 21st September 2015.
The Northern Advocate was again on hand to record the event.Daryl’s son, Spencer (pictured below), is the next generation to follow in honouring and maintaining the memory of these young men who gave their lives and paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
Northern Advocate, 29th Sept. 2015 – “War dead live on in restored plaque”.
Postscript – Flora died on 22nd July 1961 aged 80. Her eldest daughter Marion (the authors grandmother) died in 1994 and Flora’s youngest daughter, Deborah, is living in Whangarei aged 92.
