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Te Punga Place street sign with poppy

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Description: Photograph of Te Punga PLace sign with poppy denoting that the street was named after a New Zealand soldier who served overseas and that their story was accepted by the Poppy Places Trust. This street makes up part of the 2nd phase of the project in Palmerston North which commemorates nine members of the 28th Māori Battalion in the Awatapu subdivision. The signs were unveiled on Armistice Day, 11th November 2016. Prior to its subdivision, the land known as Awatapu was a golf course and grazing area situated next to the Manawatu River. In order to free up land for residential development and increase revenue, a Council meeting of 16 April 1963 resolved to subdivide the area via “disposal of sections through Land Agents at pre-determined figures fixed by the Council”. The new Awatapu College had to be allowed for, and the old Awatapu Golf Links shifted upstream to Brightwater Terrace, which then became the Palmerston North Golf Club. As part of the process of subdividing and naming streets, George Dittmer was contacted in late 1964 to give his thoughts on the naming of streets after 28th Māori Battalion soldiers as a commemoration of their service to their country. Dittmer provided a comprehensive list of soldiers who had served under him which was later utilised by the Council to adopt street names in the area in 1965. Poppy Places website.