Dozens gathered at 300 Island Edendale Rd on Anzac Day to open the information kiosk.
Five horses with poppies on their faces also watched the service, started with a prayer by the Rev John Ranstead.
Southland District councillor Paul Duffy, pointed out how devastating the loss of a horse was in war.
“My granddad was at the [Battle of the] Somme and I did hear from him that a horse’s life was almost more valuable than a man’s.”
A local committee also saw the value of an information kiosk about Menzies Ferry after the local hall was sold and a reserve was created at the site.
Menzies Ferry is a farming area on the west side of the Mataura River, southeast of Edendale. It was named after Dr James Menzies, who supplied a boat to ferry passengers across the Mataura. The area was surveyed as a township in 1876.
Kiosk committee chairman Malcolm Sinclair had realised there was no place to display the area’s local history, so he rallied the troops to change that. About four years ago the Menzies Ferry memorial committee had its first meeting.
“As the generations go, the history goes with it.
“So we [the committee] had to put a line in the sand and said we want this preserved.”
They put their heads together and created the kiosk with help from Southland District Council through their heritage fund and the Waihōpai Toetoe community partnership fund.
Information on display includes local farming, horse racing, the establishment of Menzies Ferry School, the dairy factory which opened in 1910 and community initiatives.
Committee member Brendon Clarke who led the project, said the history scribed on blue boards was easy on the eye.
“It’s come up better than we expected it to . . . it’s quite open and visually appealing.”
Doug Stewart, a 52-year resident of Menzies Ferry, cut the kiosk’s red ribbon.
“All the time that I’ve lived in Menzies Ferry, I’ve enjoyed every bit of it,” he said.
The kiosk reads, “it was never just the land; it was the people who made Menzies Ferry a place to call home”.
