Honouring a national hero this Armistice Day

A special ceremony was held today at Mangatangi School to unveil a plaque commemorating Mr Richard (Dick) Henderson, a former teacher at the school and one of New Zealand’s most admired World War I medics.

Henderson served as a medical orderly at Gallipoli, where he became known for his bravery bringing wounded soldiers to safety on a donkey, an image immortalised in the famous Horace Moore-Jones painting. He later served at the Somme and Passchendaele, earning the Military Cross for his courage under fire.

The new plaque, a scaled-up reproduction of the original Gallipoli photograph, was unveiled by Henderson’s son, Ross Henderson. He spoke of his father’s bravery and years spent as a schoolteacher after the war. Several other local members of the Mangatangi Historical Group spoke fondly of memories at the school in the 1940s and the good old times of riding your pony to school.

The project was supported through Waikato District Council’s Heritage Fund and marks the final project of the Mangatangi Historical Group, who have made a lasting contribution to preserving the area’s history, and are now incorporated into the Mangatangi Maramarua Catchment. The unveiling also coincides with Armistice Day, a fitting occasion to honour one of New Zealand’s wartime heroes and celebrate the restoration of the school’s original 1923 classroom building.