I photographed these unusual carvings at
Rotorua’s Malfroy Geysers in Government Gardens, near the museum. They're the only white carvings I've ever seen and I’m not to sure about the significance of them; but certainly there is plenty of available information about
Jean Michel Camille Malfroy, who was born in France in 1839. He arrived in New Zealand during the goldrushes of the 1860s and settled in Ross in Westland. He was an inventive engineer and in 1886 he arrived in
Rotorua to work for the Crown Lands Development, monitoring lake levels and thermal activity after the Tarawera eruption and overseeing work at the Rotorua Sanitorium. In 1891 he became chairman of the Rotorua Town Board and he established a diplomatic relationship in his dealings with
local Maori.
Although well known for a wide range of inventions associated with improvements at the Rotorua Sanitorium, Malfroy also made a name for himself for his work in creating
the trio of artificial geysers, appropriately named The Malfroy Geysers, which is where these carvings now stand. The geysers, now dormant, were capable of playing to a height of 12 metres and were formed by directing hot water from nearby
Oruawhata Springs, through pipes fitted with regulating valves.
Oruawhata, it should be noted, was a deep thermal chasm filled with boiling water and poisonous gases, which was used by Maori as a burial pit for the remains of warriors. The pool and its
urupa (burial ground) was filled in many years ago but the site is still held in high regard by the people of
Ngati Whakaue – which, I suspect, is what these carvings may be in honour of.
We miss out on a lot in life when we don't take the time to look carefully at everything around us. It seems to be the modern way - to whizz through life without a minute to spare for the sheer enjoyment of observation. I've been guilty of it myself - which is why I had never really noticed this particular war memorial in Rotorua's Government Gardens before. Always in a hurry for a meeting at adjacent Rotorua Museum & Art Gallery, I had driven straight past it many times.
Unveiled by the Duke of York in 1927 it is a memorial to the Te Arawa soldiers who died in the Great War. It is extravagant in its detail - following both the English and the Maori traditions. I've only represented a tiny portion of that here in the interests of conserving space. I particularly loved the little waka with its miniature paddlers set into the concrete memorial.
