Palmerston North Western Grenadiers Tank Fund, WWI

This real photo postcard depicts a First World War fund-raising campaign in Palmerston North. There had been many fund-raising campaigns during the war to buy tanks for the allied armies, but in this case, later in the war, the campaign used a mock-up tank to raise money (£20,000) for the sick and wounded. The outcome of the war still hung in the balance in early 1918, but the real cost, not just in lives lost but in lives crippled, had become all too apparent.

The scene in the photograph shows the Soldiers' Club in Palmerston North - a crowd have gathered around the "tank", which bears the large legend "Te Ika a Maui," the Māori name for New Zealand's North Island. The Soldiers' Club building still exists today, and is not greatly altered physically, though it is now used for a commercial purpose.

Formerly, it was the original premises of the Palmerston North Returned Soldiers' Clubrooms (later the R.S.A. - Returned Services Association). Now, the ground floor is a popular cafe. The land on which the Clubrooms were built was originally donated by a wealthy local sheep farmer, Percy McHardy - a person prominent in Massey University's own heritage as the former owner of the homestead now known as Tiritea, the traditional residence of Massey's Principals/Vice-Chancellors.

Note also the building on the left-hand side of the photo, the premises of the Manawatu Philosophical Society.

It is unfortunate that the trimming of the card has cut off some of the caption at the bottom. The survivng text of the postcard reads: "Western Grenadier's Tank Souvenir £20,000 'Final Battle Campaign' for Sick and Wounded Soldier's". Allen 'Studio's' Palmerston North N.Z. photo protected". The text following this last segment may read "March... 1918", but this is not certain. A brief column on p. 6 of the 28 Feb. 1918 issue of the Manawatu Standard refers to this fund-raising event.