Join Waimate District Mayor Craig Rowley, along with special guests from the Defence Force, National RSA and many of Ted’s descendants, along with the wider community, for the official unveiling of the Ted d'Auvergne statue at the Waihao Forks Hotel.

The sculpture commemoratively depicts Ted d’Auvergne, a Waihao Forks soldier who famously left a bottle of beer at the Waihao Forks Hotel, vowing to finish the beverage on his return from World War II, as well as commemorating all rural soldiers who left small town New Zealand for war and never returned.

However, history tells us otherwise, with Ted dying in battle in Crete, Greece in 1941 – aged 35.

The life-sized sculpture was commissioned by a small group of locals, including Mayor Rowley, with former Oamaru-based artist Donald Paterson behind the work.