Memorial Park

Memorial Park is located on Napier Road, near the eastern edge of Palmy, in a former quarry that was excavated to provide gravel for the Palmerston North to Napier Railway that once ran alongside the main road.

The Terrace End railway station stood where the now-upper car park, though this was demolished when the railway was relocated to the north side of the city in the 1960s.

The Fitzroy Street entrance features the Workers' Memorial which was erected in 2011. Each year on 28 April, an event is sponsored by Unions Manawatū where a cross-section of community groups remember those killed, injured or made ill at work.

The park has a strong connection to our wartime history, and remembrance is a key value. The play areas have been set out to loosely follow the Anzac Poppy symbol.

In remembering our fallen soldiers, the New Zealand Defence Force donated in 2019 an M101A1 105mm howitzer that was developed by the United States during World War II. The light field gun could fire shells up to 11 kilometres and also served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well.

We asked you in 2016 what you wanted to see at Memorial Park. You told us your key values were:

• WWII and Historical Memory
• Family and Social
• Safety and Accessibility
• Sport and Active Recreation

Although stakeholders considered the historical associations to be important, the public respondents had greater interest in the actual facilities and activities that could be undertaken at the park. Overall family, socialisation and play (especially water fun) were the three most popular values people held for Memorial Park. It is a place where people come to swim, to stroll and to picnic.