Alexandra Redoubt - Tuakau

Situated on the high bank of the Waikato at Tuakau, the remains of this redoubt are quite evident with ditches and low earth ramparts.
Positioned in the Alexandra Redoubt Reserve, there is also an early-settler cemetery here as well as two pleasant walks through native bush. The 150m -long single span Caesar Roose bridge over the Waikato can be seen in the distance.

Access: from Tuakau head south on George then River Roads, turn right into Alexandra Redoubt Road and follow the sealed road to the end. From Pokeno: south on Pokeno then Whangarata Roads, turn left into River Road, the right into Alexandra Redoubt Road.
Parking is right beside the site.

I visited in August 2019 on a sunny winter day.
See my tour:
https://youtu.be/FlrDPlzWO0Y


In the early 1860‘s British immigrants stranded landless in Auckland pressured the New Zealand Governor, Sir George Grey, to allow them access to the fertile territory of the Waikato. In compliance, Grey concocted threats of an imminent invasion of Auckland by Maori - and wrangled 10,000 Imperial troops from the British Government in order to execute his plans to dispossess innocent Maori of their ancestral lands.
The fortification of Alexandra Redoubt was a defensive piece of Grey’s strategy of invading the Waikato, under General Cameron, with what was then considered an overwhelming force.
Maori resistance dictated otherwise. The full story is examined in detail by Vincent O’Malley in his book “The War for New Zealand”.
Today the site of Alexandra Redoubt is a historic reserve, and substantial portions of the earthworks remain. This historic place is also the site of an early European-settler cemetery.

A sign provides some information about the history of the redoubt and the cemetery:
“Named after Princess Alexandra of Wales, the redoubt was constructed and garissoned in July 1863 by the 65th Regiment under the command of Colonel Wyatt.
The post was intended to protect General Cameron’s right flank of the Waikato River and ensure safe passage for the steamer Avon.
A detachment from the redoubt was in action near Camerontown on 7 September 1863.
Captain Swift and three men were killed and a number of men in the regiment were decorated for bravery.
Col St. E. McKenna. Victoria Cross
Lance Cpl J Ryan. Victoria Cross
Sgt. J Bracegirdle. DCM
Sgt. M Meaira. DCM
Pl. W.M. Bullford. DCM
Pte. J. Cole. DCM
Pte. B. Thomas. DCM
Pte. J. Talbot. DCM”

The marble memorial was completed in June 1915, and commemorates the fallen:

 

The inscription to the right includes an extract from Rupert Brooke’s poem, ‘1914 III: The Dead’.

“There's none of these / so lonely and poor of old, / But, dying, has made us / rarer gifts than gold.”

See the end of this post for the full text.

From <nzhistory.govt.nz>:

“The remains of Alexandra Redoubt, located near the Waikato town of Tūākau, occupy a commanding position 90 m above the right bank of the Waikato River. This memorial obelisk stands near the entrance to the site. It is dedicated to the imperial and colonial troops, known and unknown, who died in the Franklin district in 1863–64.

Alexandra Redoubt covered about one-third of a hectare. The rectangular fortification featured flanking bastions on diagonally opposite corners. It was named after the popular Danish princess who, in March 1863, married the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). By September 1863, the redoubt was garrisoned by 150 troops of the 65th under Captain Richard Swift.
Of great strategic importance, Alexandra Redoubt was intended to safeguard Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron’s right flank on the Waikato River. It protected the British naval fleet that transported troops and provisions for the Waikato campaign, and helped to secure the South Auckland region against Kingite Māori forces.
Alexandra Redoubt became part of a river-based British supply chain that was operational by mid-August 1863. Provisions were brought from Onehunga to the Waikato Heads by steamer. They were then transferred to smaller vessels and taken upriver to Queen’s Redoubt at Pōkeno, the British military headquarters for the Waikato invasion.”

1914 III: The Dead

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!


There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,


But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.


These laid the world away; poured out the red


Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be


Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,


That men call age; and those who would have been.


Their sons, they gave, their immortality.

Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth.


Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.


Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,


And paid his subjects with a royal wage;


And Nobleness walks in our ways again;


And we have come into our heritage.

Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915[1]) was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War,

Brooke sailed with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 28 February 1915 but developed sepsis from an infected mosquito bite. He died at 4:46 pm on 23 April 1915, on the French hospital ship the Duguay-Trouin, moored in a bay off the Greek island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea, while on his way to the landing at Gallipoli. As the expeditionary force had orders to depart immediately, Brooke was buried at 11 pm in an olive grove on Skyros.