Medals carry century of history | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

More than 100 years of history changed hands in Rotorua when a set of Boer War medals were given to the Rotorua Returned Services Association for permanent display.

Rotorua's Graham Drabble presented his grandfather's Boer War medals to the RSA during a private ceremony this week.

His grandfather, Robert William Drabble, served in the Boer War as a volunteer - one of about 6500 Kiwis to serve in the two-and-a-half-year conflict.

Mr Drabble, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War who served for 23 years in the New Zealand Army and rose to the rank of Warrant Officer, said he was happy the medals would be on display in the RSA rather than stored away at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.

"[My grandfather] was a surveyor in Te Puke prior to the war and volunteered to go over. Like many of them he also rode a horse.

"My father didn't talk much about him so we don't really know why he went."

Mr Drabble said he was sure the medals would be well looked after in Rotorua.

"I don't want them sitting in a drawer somewhere, at least here people can get to look at them," he said.

Rotorua RSA president Peter Gallacher said it was an honour to have been given the medals for safe keeping and they would be displayed in the RSA's Boer War collection.

The medals are made up of the Queen Victoria South Africa service medal, the King Edward VII South Africa service medal and the rare Kimberley Star.

According to Mr Drabble there are fewer than 150 Kimberley Stars known to be in existence.

The Rotorua RSA Military Museum curator, Alan Bines, said that in his 22 years of being curator he had not yet seen a Kimberley Star and he was excited to have one in the collection. "We have some of the other medals, but not a Kimberley Star. It's nice to get something as rare as that so I'll have to do some more research on it," he said.

The RSA's military collection is displayed on the walls of the building in cabinets and in open-air displays.

Mr Bines said he was happy to take groups around the collection and interest was again picking up in the lead-up to this year's Anzac Day in April.