OK sought to clean up war hero’s gravestone

A pair of military grave restorers are putting the call out to a Dunedin war hero’s family to get the go-ahead to refurbish his memorial.

Otago Military Historical Group members Peter Trevathan and Bernie Flaherty are planning on cleaning up a memorial for commanding officer of the Otago Mounted Rifles (1914-15) Lieutenant-colonel Arthur Bauchop,  who was killed in World War 1 and has a hill in Gallipoli named after him.

So far, they have not been able to find any of his family members or friends to give them permission to refurbish his memorial site in Port Chalmers Cemetery early next year.

Mr Flaherty said the inspirational commander had been shot by a sniper securing a hill that bears his name in the Battle of Chunuk Bair.

He died on a hospital ship a few days later and was buried at sea.

Mr Flaherty and Mr Trevathan said they felt it was important to honour Lt-col Bauchop’s war effort by cleaning his family’s tombstone, which also had his name on it.

"This man is an important part of our history ... This is why we’re doing it," Mr Flaherty said.

Born in Port Chalmers, Lt-col Bauchop was one of Otago’s most experienced soldiers and was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.

The Otago Military Historical Group wanted to install an information panel at the grave in the cemetery as well as clean it up, Mr Flaherty said.

"We’re going to clean all this concrete up to get it to look as new as possible." 

At present, the group relied on community grants and groups to provide funds so they could afford the materials to do the work.

The pair did the work themselves and had done other graves since the group was formed in 2016.

mark.john@odt.co.nz