The mine, now painted red and on display in the middle of Mōkau, washed ashore on the southern side of the Mōkau river mouth in December 1942.
It is now thought that the Mōkau mine is a German X-type five-horn device, one of a total of 14 moored contact mines that came ashore along the west coast of New Zealand during the World War II.
Three of those mines washed ashore at Bell Block, New Plymouth and Mōkau in the space of just a few weeks between the end of November 1942 and mid-February 1943. These mines would have been among several hundred that were known to have been laid by German raiders off Melbourne and in Bass Strait.
Once disarmed, the mine was displayed by the Mōkau Patriotic Committee as a fundraiser, then was later set up at its present spot as a memorial.
The plaque was donated by Mōkau Progressive Association and is inscribed “Let this German Mine found December 2nd 1942 remind us in the days of Peace, Without vision the people perish.”
Mōkau is a small town on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island with a population of just over 100.
